Has anyone traveled Highway 67 recently? Apparently there is a problem with the repaving project. (Below copied from HT - heraldtimesonline/news/local/chip-and-seal-on-ind-destroying-windshields/article_55751ee2-3744-11e4-964d-0017a43b2370.html): ********* MARTINSVILLE — A treatment applied to Ind. 67 by the Indiana Department of Transportation was designed to fill cracks and maintain the road, officials say. Unfortunately, it is also cracking, chipping and breaking windshields of many motorists. Chip and seal is a treatment that begins with a layer of tar to fill in cracks in the road. A layer of aggregate stone is put on top of the tar and is followed by a sealer. Highway work crews began putting the treatment on Ind. 67 at the beginning of August. Peggy Holzsworth, who is a customer servicerepresentative with Morgan Insurance Group, said they have seen about 100 claims for chipped and cracked windshields since the state began the chip and seal process. “I hate it,” Holzsworth said Friday, adding that her husband’s windshield is among those that have been damaged. “We’ve had in the range of 100 claims on chipped and cracked windshields.” Other area agents didn’t want to put a number on what they’ve seen, but said they had taken many claims. The process that is causing the damage is one that has been used on highways in northern Indiana, but is new to this area, said Will Wingfield, who is with the communications office of INDOT. “There aren’t any examples of this in southern Indiana,” Wingfield said. “But we have done this on U.S. 35 near Laporte and U.S. 24 near Fort Wayne and U.S. 30 near Valparaiso.” Jason Lowther, who is a pavement engineer on the Ind. 67 chip and seal project, said this type of maintenance was necessary on the stretch of Ind. 67 between Martinsville and Mooresville. “The last project in this stretch was 1997-98, when three levels of (hot mix asphalt) were applied,” Lowther said. “It’s 16 to 17 years old. “We conducted a roadway assessment in 2012 to look at and address deficiencies. Ind. 67, according to that survey, had mostly slight severity of distresses. It was still a pretty good ride. We’re trying to look at more pavement preservation techniques. So, we looked at what we could do to the roadway to extend its life.” One thing INDOT does to preserve roadways is fill cracks as they appear. “When you get a lot of cracks, which happens as pavement ages, it makes more sense to seal it all with one big layer than to just fill individual cracks,” Lowther said. “Chip and seal has a couple components that do this. The oil fills cracks and keeps water out. It puts a new roof over the roadway. The stone gives it friction so cars don’t slide around. “It was an engineering decision.” Those engineering decisions also include using different materials for different areas based on many factors, such as typical weather conditions, the amount of traffic and the types of material that are available in the area of the work. Harry Maginity, who is the media contact for the southeast district of INDOT, of which Morgan County is a part, said the materials used on Ind. 67 are different from those used in other projects in the state. “High traffic count means we have to use a harder material,” Maginity said. “For every dollar we invest today in a chip seal, studies have shown anything between $6 and $14 worth of savings.” In other locations where chip and seal has been put down, the state has used a softer limestone, but Lowther said conditions called for a different material on Ind. 67. “The southeast district doesn’t have a favorable geology for limestone,” Lowther said. “The limestone here is susceptible to polishing. With traffic numbers the way they are, we have to use a polish resistant aggregate, and there is a limited supply of that in our area. The Martinsville supplier offered us that.” Lowther said Martinsville supplier Rogers Group won the contract to supply the stone, which is a river rock rather than limestone. Not all it’s cracked up to be Lowther said there are a lot of factors that have led to damage to motorists’ vehicles, and they have learned quite a bit since starting the project. A big factor that has caused damage is people not complying with traffic warnings posted in the work zone. “We certainly as a department have tried to advise the public that (60 mph) is not a safe operational speed in the work zone,” Lowther said, referring to signs that advise traffic should slow to 35 mph. “It’s a partnership between the public and our department. Unfortunately, we do see some property damage when those speeds aren’t adhered to.” But speed isn’t the only factor in damage to vehicles, he said. “I personally was not out on the site, but information given to me is that there were some individuals who did slow down and there was some situations out there with safety concerns,” Lowther said. “There have been people weaving in and out of the construction zone that we were trying to keep people off of, which tracked gravel from one side to the other.” The amount of time it has taken to finish the project has also added to the problems. While the number of actual work days is right on track, weather conditions have kept road crews off the highway. A project that was projected to be done in less than three weeks is now going on week five, Lowther said. This prolongs the amount of time before the final seal is applied, mostly cementing the rocks in place. “You can’t chip in the rain, so you have to give consideration to weather,” Lowther said. “It has presented us with a lot of challenges on this project and others. “We had planned to have six days of chipping; we ended up with seven. As far as it taking longer, that wasn’t really the case; there were delays between. “You have to wait 24 hours after chipping to sweep. It took a lot more effort on our part to get the loose gravel off the road than we expected.” Taking extra time to sweep is one of the lessons Lowther said they learned through this project. After numerous complaints of cracked and chipped windshields, they decided to take an entire day to go over the roadway at least three times with a sweeper to remove loose rocks. Depending on the weather, Lowther expects the project to be finished this week, as they will begin the fog sealing Monday.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 19:21:54 +0000
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