By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
'Tis the season for roadwork and a great deal of it is being done in Nephi.
"As the summer winds down, several street maintenance projects are underway or have recently been completed," said Randy McKnight, city administrator.
One of those is to chip seal roads.
"One of the most effective ways to prolong the life of a road is to chip seal the surface," said McKnight. "The downside is that it is messy."
Bitumen is a liquid when it is hot and hard when cold.
"It is important that we apply chip seals at the hottest time of the year, as this ensures that the new seal will become strong and long lasting," he said.
Firstly a thin layer of bitumen is spread onto the existing road. Then a layer of sealing chip is applied onto the bitumen. The sealing chips are rolled into the bitumen to provide initial bond. The road is then re-opened to traffic. Loose chips are swept up.
"It is helpful to prolong the life of the roadway but it is also problematic," he said.
Wet road conditions will affect the bond between the bitumen and the road. This could lead to chip seal failures. It is important that the weather cooperates.
"We try to asphalt our roads, on a rotating basis, once every three years," said McKnight.
Asphalt/concrete pavement mixes are typically composed of 5 percent asphalt/bitumen cement and 95 percent aggregates (stone, sand, and gravel). Due to its highly viscous nature, asphalt/bitumen cement must be heated so it can be mixed with the aggregates at the asphalt mixing facility.
The use of preservation seals on asphalt pavements is a crucial part of any effective pavement management program. It is important to optimize the use of available budgets to extend the life of city pavements as much as possible. The street system is a valuable asset.
Blair Painter, city recorder, said that the city had laid the equivalent of 10 acres of seal coating this year.
Another way of dealing with road maintenance is to seal just the cracks in asphalt pavements. It is one of the most effective methods of preventative maintenance. Crack sealing is typically performed on working cracks and involves thorough crack preparation and placement of high-quality materials.
"It is best to do this work in winter when the cracks have separated," said McKnight.
Preparation is typically limited to "blowing out" the cracks with compressed air. Before sealing, the crack must be completely free of dirt, dust, and other materials that might prevent bonding of the sealant.
This treatment will help extend the service life of the treatment it is being used with and thus extend the service life of the pavement structure.
"When we bring in a contractor we like to do many streets at one time," said McKnight.
Using one contractor to do all the work saved time and money.
"We also like to refresh painting at the same time," he said.
McKnight said that the projects include: Pavement markings refreshed near schools and railroad crossings, an asphalt seal coat has been applied to those blocks west of Main Street from 900 North to 700 South.
He said that chip seal is being applied to the blocks on: 200 West from 100 North to 700 South; on 100 West from 600 South to Center Street; 100 West from 200 North to 300 North; 100 West from 400 North to 600 North; 100 West from 700 North to the NRP gate; 400 South from Main Street to 250 West; 300 and 400 South from Main Street to 250 West; 600 South from Main Street to 400 East; 300 West from 100 North to 700 North; and 700 North from 300 West to the freeway frontage road.
"We may possibly do 600 North from Main Street to 400 East; 100 East from 500 South to 700 South; and 400 West from 100 North to Center Street," said McKnight.
The swimming pool will remain open until Saturday, August 22, so we will have to consider how it goes in terms of that block," said McKnight.
One more round of weed mowing on city street rights-of-way will be done.
"We have made multiple trips mowing weeds," said McKnight. "Some weeds grow better at certain seasons."
The city does participate with the county in handing out weed spray to residents during the spring but city crews do not use the spray along city streets. He said they had found that the spray had adverse effects on plantings along the edges of lots and was not worth the trouble it caused.
"We just mow," said McKnight, "that way we don't have negative outcome."
Mayor Mark Jones wondered about the corners of some streets and if those corners were receiving a seal coat in advance.
The machine that does that job has a difficult time making corners but they are done.
"Our streets are in good shape because of maintenance," said Jones.
Costs for maintenance keep escalating, said McKnight. That makes it more and more difficult and more of a challenge to keep up with the needed maintenance.
