ADA COUNTY, Idaho — Most people know that summertime not only brings warmer temps and family vacations but also construction and road work.
That includes chip sealing. The Ada County Highway District has been busy all summer resurfacing the lanes around the county.
Their goal is to resurface more than 400 miles of roadways, and they’re almost complete.
A lot of the work right now is going on in Meridian, that’s according to ACHD’s interactive chip sealing map. This is where a lot of gravel is kicking up because of the work.
"Yeah I noticed right away, gravel kind of flying everywhere over by Winco,” Keshia Schneider, a mom visiting Meridian from Kuna, said.
A spokesperson for ACHD, Natalie Shaver, said chip sealing is a "necessary evil’ that needs to be done every year."
"We know it's not the easiest time of year, nobody likes to drive in an area that is being chip sealed,” she said.
She is right that people don’t enjoy driving on roads going through this process.
"I think it's good that it's happening, I just wish it wasn't taking so long,” Anka Trifan, a Meridian resident, said.
Chip sealing helps prevents cracks and potholes. Roads can end up being worn down from all the cars that are constantly driving on it.
"It's cost-saving and preserve the life of the road from wear and tear,” Shaver said.
ACHD advises drivers to not speed when driving through the work zones. They have suggested speed limit signs of 20 miles per hour.
"The speed will lift up those chips,” Shaver said. “Sometimes they can potentially hit another windshield.”
The chip sealing process consists of five phases. The first is to sweep the road, then they apply the chip seal, another sweeping is done to remove excess chips, then they apply what is called a fog seal and then another sweeping is done.
ACHD provides daily updates to where the work will be going on. Crews have been out working on this since the end of May, and are scheduled to wrap up sometime in either late August or early September.