# Crushed stone

Ordinary rock, blasted and crushed in vast tonnages near every city for roads, concrete, cement and lime, and almost never shipped far.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/crushed_stone/

Construction · No. 80

- Not on a critical list
 Construction · Foundation · Matter

Every city sits on a hidden ring of quarries, because crushed rock is too heavy and cheap to haul far.

Chart: Illustration: Crushed stone

##### Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Ordinary bedrock is drilled, blasted from quarry faces, crushed and screened. In the US, about 70% of 2025 output was limestone and dolomite.

##### Three things to know

1. The US quarried about 1.5 billion t of crushed stone in 2025 from 3,500 quarries, worth about $27 billion.
2. About 70% of US crushed stone in 2025 was limestone and dolomite, with granite at 14% and traprock at 6%.
3. Norway leads world exports with 11%, because its coastal quarries can load ships directly.

##### The journey

1. 1 **Bedrock**Limestone, dolomite, granite or traprock
2. 2 **Blasting**Drilled and blasted from quarry faces
3. 3 **Crushing**Primary and secondary crushers break rock
4. 4 **Screening**Washed and sorted into graded sizes
5. 5 **Short haul**Truck, rail or barge to nearby users
6. 6 **Uses**Road base, asphalt, concrete, cement kilns
 Covered in [What makes something a commodityCommodities](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/commodities/what-is-a-commodity/)[Using energy: food, materials, mobility and buildingsEnergy](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/energy/using-energy/)

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## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/crushed_stone/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/crushed_stone/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/crushed_stone/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/crushed_stone/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/crushed_stone/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/crushed_stone/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/crushed_stone/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/crushed_stone/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/crushed_stone/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/crushed_stone/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/crushed_stone/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/crushed_stone/links/index.md)