County road chip seal projects begin Monday

 

Boulder County, Colo. – The Boulder County Transportation Department will apply chip seal to 25 miles of county roads beginning this Monday, June 11.

 

Starting Monday, crews will begin working on Overland Road above Jamestown and work their way down James Canyon, and then Lefthand Canyon all the way to U.S. 36 (Foothills Highway).

 

The chip application will be followed closely by rollers and sweepers to set the material into the road surface along with the application of a “fog-coat” to further reduce the amount of loose material. The process is expected to take less than a week for each section of road.

 

2012 chip seal schedule:

 

Week of June 11

  • Overland Road
  • James Canyon Drive

 

Week of June 18

  • Lefthand Canyon Drive from James Canyon to U.S. 36
  • North 75th Street from south of St. Vrain Road to Highway 66
  • St. Vrain Road from 75th Street to Longmont city limits west of Airport Road

 

Week of June 25

  • North 73rd Street from Niwot Road to Clover Basin Drive
  • Niwot Road from 63rd Street to the Diagonal Highway (119)
  • Jay Road from U.S. 36 to 47th Street

 

Week of July 2

  • Jay Road from 47th Street to 75th Street
  • Baseline Road from 55th Street to Cherryvale Road

 

Schedules are subject to change due to weather and other factors and the projects will cause minor traffic delays. Visitwww.BoulderCounty.org/Transportation for updates.

 

Applying chip seal to county roads is a cost-effective means of extending their life and reducing potholes. Adding stone chips to pavement after it has sat for more than five years extends the pavement life considerably, allowing for more use of the original overlay. Additionally, the cost of chipping a road is a small fraction of the cost of new paving and chip sealing uses less oil and less material than paving.

 

“We understand the chip seal can be disruptive to cycling and can make for a rough ride for a period of time,” Boulder County Transportation Director George Gerstle said. “We’ll continue using the smaller chips, which we’ve used for the last two years with good results, and we will continue sweeping and fog-sealing the roads immediately after the chips are applied to create as smooth a surface as possible. However, there will still be impacts and cyclists should expect poorer riding conditions and use caution on these roads for a couple of weeks after the work is completed.”

 

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