Road work

The county’s chip sealer will be rolling into town at the end of the week to give a facelift to two miles of rural residential roads. Sections of Pipeline Road, Hughes Avenue, Bayview Avenue, E Street and Jerome Street will all get a fresh coat of tar and gravel and the unpaved section of Jerome Street will be chipsealed as well.

Preparation for the chipsealing crew, which will be in Blaine July 19 to 26, is already underway. City public works employees are cleaning shoulders and ditches. Where necessary, four inches of crushed rock will be laid down to pre-level the roadbed. County chipsealing crews will spray a tar-like emulsion on the road and follow it with a layer of gravel. The surface will then be rolled before being re-opened to traffic.

“It doesn’t close the street for excessive periods,” said assistant public works director Steve Banham.

The street continues to settle as gravel sinks into the tar and the tar sets. During this period some tar could wind up on shoes or cars, which Banham said is easily removed with bug/tar remover. Remover will be available at the public works shop for those who don’t have any at home. Once the new surface has settled, excess gravel will be swept from the road, and Banham said motorists should keep speed down until then to avoid spraying rocks.

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