RPSEA Unconventional Oil & Gas Development (Environmental Issues) funded Texas A&M University to construct and then perform demonstrations of low impact O&G lease roads designed to reduce the environmental impact of field development in sensitive new desert ecosystems. The site is located at the Texas A&M University Desert Test Center, http://www.pecosrtc.org/, near Pecos Texas on the edge of the Chihuahua desert. The Texas Transportation Institute/Pavement and Materials (TTI) manages this site and assists with the project. (http://tti.tamu.edu/research_areas/topic.htm?p_tid=5)

The project evaluated three new types of low impact roads plus one comparison standard gravel lease road), all road test sections constructed at the Desert Test Center. The roads were monitored, and evaluated for the ability to withstand both normal and heavy truck traffic over intermittent periods through a complete calendar year.

In the Fall of 2011, two of the removable roads were deployed to South Texas to a Webb County ranch. Further use is planned on lease roads to mitigate the effect of heavy truck traffic in critical crossings where gravel and caliche has been less than effective.

An SPE paper has been written about the project.