2020 Chip Seal Program

Chip sealing operations on Kingwood Street between 10th and 35th streets has progressed nicely, especially with the great summer weather we are enjoying. Below is the updated scheduled:

• Wednesday, crews from Sierra Santa Fe (the City’s contractor) will be conducting street sweeping operations all day to remove excess rock chips from the road surface. This is being completed in preparation of an application of a fog seal. Motorists are advised that flaggers will be controlling traffic for one-way operation while work is being completed.
• Thursday, crews from Sierra Santa Fe will begin application of the MicroCoat™ to the bike lanes and fog seal to the vehicle lanes, including the center turn lane. Exact timing is dependent on weather conditions. As we experienced on Wednesday, we anticipate that a marine layer (fog) will be present in the morning and the application of the MicroCoat™ and fog seal will need to wait until the fog has lifted.
  • MicroCoat™ of the bike lanes starting with the south bound lane from 27th to 10th Street. After the MicroCoat™ is applied the contractor will fog seal the south bound vehicle lane as well as the center turn lane. Once the fog seal is dry (usually within an hour – highly dependent upon humidity and temperature) on the south bound and center turn lanes, the contractor will switch to the north bound bike and vehicle travel lanes.
  • MicroCoat™ of the bike lanes starting with the south bound lane from 35th to 27th Street. After the MicroCoat™ is applied the contractor will fog seal the south bound vehicle lane as well as the center turn lane. Once the fog seal is dry on the south bound lanes, the contractor will switch to the north bike and vehicle travel bound lanes.

Residents and businesses are advised to use alternate routes to avoid the work area between July 16th. If you do need to travel in these corridors, traffic control as well as a pilot car will be used throughout the day to allow safe vehicle travel. Please slow down, be patient and attentive to the traffic control flaggers. Please slow down, be patient and attentive to the traffic control flaggers.

The 2020 pavement preservation project for this summer will be the application of a hot oil chip and fog seal on Kingwood Street from 10th to 35th streets. 

Chip Sealing is a common pavement maintenance practice that extends pavement life and provides a good driving surface. With chip seals, a thin film of heated asphalt liquid is sprayed on the road surface, followed by the placement of small aggregates ("chips"). The chips are compacted to orient them for maximum adherence to the asphalt, and excess stone is swept from the surface. A fog seal is then applied to further bind the chips to the asphalt liquid, protect the chip seal from UV rays and finish the road preservation.

The City has completed five other chip seal projects in recent years.  Previous projects included Oak Street between 20th and 35th streets; Rhododendron Drive between 35th and Sebastian streets; 35th Street between Pine and Siano Loop; Oak Street between 35th and 46th streets; Spruce Street between 25th and 35th streets; and 42nd Street from Hwy 101 to Spruce Street.

In addition, we will be applying MicroCoat™ to the bike lanes along Kingwood Street within the project area. MicroCoat™ is a micro seal coating system that will protect the bike lanes from degradation. MicroCoat™ was custom designed at a state-of-the-art laboratory in Portland Oregon, specifically for the Pacific Northwest. It will provide a smoother surface for the bicyclists and pedestrians.

MicroCoat ™ is a specialty coating, designed for road surfaces that have signs of deterioration from years of service, as well as beautifying and preserving the existing asphalt. MicroCoat™ is a Polymer Modified Emulsion, specially formulated with the weather conditions of the Pacific Northwest in mind.

As with any street construction project there will be slight delays during the chip and fog seal application along with the MicroCoat™ application. Residents and businesses are advised to use alternate routes to avoid the work area between July 13th – 16th. If you do need to travel in these corridors, please slow down, be patient and attentive to the traffic control flaggers.

For additional information regarding pavement preservation, please contact Public Works at 541-997-4106.