Summer Road Maintenance Projects
An excerpt from Ted Green...
New "improved" chip sealing for 2011. The Washtenaw County Road Commission (WCRC) has posted its chip sealing plans for 2011. The good news is that for the first time the chip sealed roads will also be "fog sealed" which applies a sealant over the chips to smooth out the road and should make for better bicycling. I don't know the details, but I think the fog seal is applied about 2-3 days after the road is chip sealed, about the same time the extra chips are vacuumed up.
The WCRC is considering the fog sealing an "experiment" because it obviously adds cost. It has been well received in other states. Assuming we bicyclists find it an improvement, we need to send our thanks and feedback to the Road Commission in hopes that this practice will continue.
The effort from bicyclists to support road improvements in Washtenaw County last summer couldn't have hurt the introduction of the more bicyclist-friendly chip seal method being tested in 2011.
To see a list of the 10 county roads to be chip sealed in Washtenaw County this year, see the AnnArbor.com article.
New "improved" chip sealing for 2011. The Washtenaw County Road Commission (WCRC) has posted its chip sealing plans for 2011. The good news is that for the first time the chip sealed roads will also be "fog sealed" which applies a sealant over the chips to smooth out the road and should make for better bicycling. I don't know the details, but I think the fog seal is applied about 2-3 days after the road is chip sealed, about the same time the extra chips are vacuumed up.
The WCRC is considering the fog sealing an "experiment" because it obviously adds cost. It has been well received in other states. Assuming we bicyclists find it an improvement, we need to send our thanks and feedback to the Road Commission in hopes that this practice will continue.
The effort from bicyclists to support road improvements in Washtenaw County last summer couldn't have hurt the introduction of the more bicyclist-friendly chip seal method being tested in 2011.
To see a list of the 10 county roads to be chip sealed in Washtenaw County this year, see the AnnArbor.com article.