NAMPA, Idaho — The City of Nampa began to chip seal streets at the beginning of June and have completed most of the streets for this chip season. Now, they are getting started on the subdivisions.
1/4-inch and 1/2-inch chips have been spread across 20 arterial road sections and four subdivisions in Nampa.
Chip sealing is nothing new and happens around this time each year, but in different areas of the valley and is maintenance that needs to get done.
So, a lot of preparation goes into the chip seal project to make things easier for drivers.
"We crack seal all the streets, we sweep and getting ready for this. Then we're doing our chip seal with oil going through our distributors and chip spreader," Street Superintendent for the City of Nampa, Don Barr said. "Behind them, we'll have a dump truck, and our rollers follow up and help seed that rock into the oil."
The reason chip sealing is used to repair and correct the cracks – as opposed to asphalt overlay – is because of the cost and the efficiency.
“This is something that's pretty cost effective and fast and it helps prolong the life of the road about seven or eight years," Barr said. "So, that's a good thing to saving the taxpayers dollars.”
Not only is this process cheaper than other methods, it allows for drivers to get on the road faster. Once the road has been chip sealed, drivers are able to get on the street immediately after it is applied.
For people with concerns regarding the loose rock, Barr told KTVB they have refined the process.
"We used to not start sweeping up our rock from the project until after we were completely finished with the whole project," Barr said. "We're now sweeping the next day. So, we've minimized the amount of time that there is gravel on the streets."
City officials told KTVB to remind drivers to be careful around chip sealing and be mindful of the workers on the road.
If people want to know the locations of where chip sealing will take place or know when these repairs will end, visit the City of Nampa's website.
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