Chip Seal

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Bituminous pavement (also known as blacktop or asphalt) is considered a flexible pavement – meaning that movement underneath the road as well as loads from vehicle traffic driving on the roadway actually cause it to flex and move. Over time and prolonged exposure to the elements (sunlight, UV rays, rain, freeze/thaw), the pavement can become brittle. Seal coating (also referred to as chip sealing) a road applies a thin layer of asphalt emulsion and rock chips over the surface of the roadway to reseal the surface, with the goal of keeping the pavement flexible. The seal coat protects the pavement from the effects of the elements, fills in cracks and other defects, and increases skid resistance. Chip seals extend the life of bituminous pavement by 5 to 7 years.

Project Map & Updates

How it's done

The process can be broken up into these main parts:

Pre-cleaning: in order for the asphalt emulsion and chips to stick properly, the road surface needs to be fairly clean. City crews will sweep and flush the roadway with water multiple times to get the roadway as clean as possible.
Seal Coat Application: a contractor will come in and spray the asphalt emulsion, spread chips and roll them into the roadway surface.
Post-sweeping: once the emulsion has cured, there will remain excess rock chips on the roadway. City crews will sweep up the excess chips, leaving a clean, coated road surface.
Fog Sealing: On main roads and in cul-de-sac bulbs, an additional coating of oil is applied for durability. This is completed after all excess chips are removed.
Pavement Markings: Once the seal coat work is complete and cleaned up, City crews will re-paint pavement markings on main roads (centerlines, crosswalks, turn arrows, etc.).

A lot of this work is completed simultaneously.

Information for impacted residents

As a resident, it is important to abide by the posted parking restrictions. The project moves quickly and covers a large area of the City. This means it can be hard to predict exactly when the above steps will be completed on each street. The "No Parking" signs are generally installed prior to the first step and left until the project is complete. While it may seem like there are periods of no activity, crews will return multiple times to complete each step of the project.