Road work: County gears up for chip-sealing
More than 40 miles of local roads will get a face-lift next month as part of the Flathead County Road and Bridge Department’s annual pavement maintenance cycle.
For two weeks beginning Aug. 5, crews will lay protective chip-seal on approximately 30 roadways to help extend the life of the asphalt. Work will take place from as early as 6 a.m. to as late as 6 p.m. and minimal delays are anticipated. However, roads won’t be closed to traffic during working hours. Instead, crews will complete one lane at a time, allowing traffic to flow in a single lane under the direction of flaggers.
County Public Works Director David Prunty said work will occur at a quick pace, minimizing impacts to drivers.
“Typically, we’re usually in and out of a place in an hour or two depending on the length of the road and then we come back the next day to sweep the road off,” Prunty explained. “It’s a really fast-moving work zone.”
To apply the chip-seal, workers first spray a thick coat of oil on the surface of the road to help fill in micro cracks, preventing water from seeping through the pavement. The oil is then topped by a layer of gravel chips which provide traction and further protection.
“Water is the root of all evil, I like to say, when it comes to paved roads and gravel roads,” Prunty said. “Water gets in there and freezes and expands, and then it just compounds itself and gets worse and worse.”
Significant thoroughfares scheduled for chip-sealing include: Two Mile and Three Mile drives, Tetrault, West Springcreek, McCaffery and Tronstad roads. Originally, the county also had planned to tackle a number of streets in Bigfork’s downtown sector, but delayed those efforts with the exception of Grand Drive, when they learned of a proposed sewer project. The Bigfork Water and Sewer District is planning to rehabilitate the sewer mains around the bay in 2020. Rather than tear up those streets two years in a row, the county Road Department will complete its pavement maintenance in the bay area once the pipes are repaired next year.
Roads are chosen for annual maintenance based on a combination of condition and geography. Prunty said the county will typically seal roads in one portion of the county in a given year and focus on a different location the following year. This helps ensure that resources are spread around the valley in a cost-effective manner.
“We work in geographic areas to make mobilization costs less — it just takes time and dollars to move from one area to the next area,” he noted. “There is always more need than budget.”
By preserving the pavement, chip-sealing also staves off more intensive and costly repairs such as overlays, which Prunty said can run up to five times the cost of chip-sealing.
“If you can delay your overlay costs and do crack seals and chip seals, that’s a wonderful way to extend the life of the asphalt as much as possible,” he said. “We get a lot done in a short amount of time.”
Reporter Mackenzie Reiss can be reached at mreiss@dailyinterlake.com or (406) 758-4433.