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City Crews Sealing Streets to Prepare for Winter
By: Edward Burch
Updated: September 7, 2010
City road crews have covered a lot of territory this spring and summer, as they prepare the streets for the upcoming winter.
Part of that preparation is putting down a "slurry" seal on the city's main routes and side streets. The seal adds about five to seven years of life to the pavement.
"When we apply this to the street, it seals the entire street surface” said Keven Schneider with the City Streets Department. “It’s a good program. We've been doing it for a number of years and we're really happy with it."
The seal helps protect pavement from the harsh freeze and thaw cycle the winter throws at it. It also gives drivers a better grip, by bringing back skid resistance to pavement. It's also more cost efficient for the city than repaving.
Public Works Director, Bruce Woody said, "It is only about a $1.50 per square yard to perform that (slurry seal), where as mill and overlay (repaving) is about five times that much."
Crews can seal up to forty miles of streets every year. Temperatures need to be above fifty degrees in order to lay it down. If weather cooperates, city crews can seal up to fourteen blocks in a week.
Crews have a system where they rate the streets to determine which need attention first. If roads are average to good shape, crews put the slurry seal down. If the pavement is too far gone, they use an asphalt overlay.
