With INDOT spuriously rushing to get state highways repaired throughout the state as they seemingly announce road closures on a daily basis, many area residents are left wondering when county roads will get some attention. For Starke County, roughly 45 miles of road have already been chip sealed and the process finished today, according to Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler, while Pulaski County is just getting started on their chip sealing process.
Ritzler said that they held off on the fog sealing work, allowing them to get their road work done without any closures and minimal complaints. He said no one reported any cracked windshields caused by the chip seal work. Now, he said, the process is all but done.
“We are almost complete, we have done 44 miles. Our last mile tomorrow is in Koontz Lake Slip Away Bay. We will have completed 45 miles. We started on July 1 but we had a little hiccup because of bad weather and equipment failure, but in the last week and a half, we have done most of the chip sealing, probably about 30 miles,” said Ritzler.
The chip seal process, according to Ritzler, involves first brooming off the road before placing a layer of oil and covering it with chips of stone, which are then rolled over.
“There will be loose stone for about a week and a little bit of excess oil, but after a week that will set and the road will be done,” said Ritzler.
Pulaski County Highway Superintendent Mark Fox told WKVI that the chip sealing process should take roughly a month, weather permitting, and they finally managed to get a start on the road work Tuesday. He said weather has a giant effect on how much the department can get done in a day, and now that the weather seems to have settled out, the department can get cracking.
Click here for a map of Starke County roads that were chip sealed or here for an Excel spreadsheet listing roads to be chip sealed in Pulaski County.
