I finally stopped to look more closely. These ripples are about 10 inches wide ands look to be almost exactly uniform through long stretches of road. Where does this precision come from?
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For a really simple explanation. Imagine a flat road with no ripples. Then it rains and the water runs down the road. It picks up some of the dirt and goes over small bumps like maybe a pebble. The water gets pushed up by some of the small bumps enough to slow down and the dirt in it settles. Then the water drops off the small bump and picks up more dirt. But then it makes a small hole behind the bump and has to go back up and out of the hole. Which slows it down and it releases the dirt. This continues until you have a continuous up down ripple in the road. The length, height, and shape of these bumps and holes depends on the dirt, speed and ammount of water. You will see this effect anywhere you have water running over sand or dirt.
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