AGGREGATE RESOURCE SUPPLY MODELING—FROM YESTERDAY TO TOMORROW

Studies of accessible aggregate sources in several 7½ -minute quadrangles in New Hampshire have been completed. The total available resources were computed using data from modern surficial geologic maps. The accessible sand and gravel resources were estimated using a GIS approach with consideration for a variety of land use constraints. These constraints include required setbacks from communities, lakes, parks, roads, and streams. The currently available supply of sand and gravel resources from glacial deposits in New Hampshire is rapidly being depleted or otherwise removed by sterilization. Crushed stone will soon be the main source of aggregate. New crushed stone sources will be needed to satisfy demand requirements in the State. A planning and scoping study is in progress that will be useful in predicting the location of the next large crushed stone quarries. The sites of these quarries will be determined as a function of the characteristics of the bedrock, environmental and cultural constraints, locations of existing quarries, and the characteristics of the existing demand centers and the transportation network. The possible location of the future sites will be determined in an economic context by using linear programming to solve the problem of transporting crushed stone from the sources to the demand sinks.