Thoughts on chip seal overlay?

[16hypen3sp]

Does the CoC employ the use of chip seal to fill cracks on asphalt or do they stick to the traditional tar fill method?

Anyone regularly drive on a chip sealed highway? Beside the regular cons of excessive tire wear, nightmare to drive on while installing and extreme road noise, is there any other down sides to it? Do you find it smooth after its installed?

And whats you thoughts on using chip seal as an asphalt crack filler? IMO, using it as a filler should never have been considered by any municipality. It makes the road extremely rough.

[16hypen3sp]

So no one had any thoughts on the hey?

I've noticed many road maintenance contractors have jumped on the chip seal bandwagon. And that ain't good.

[firebane]

I've only seen chip seal done on rural type roads or highways. Its quite common to see it done on roads that get murdered by frost heaves.

I personally hate it as the sheer amount of damage done to a vehicle because of the chips is nuts and the road before they fix it is a frigging nightmare.

[16hypen3sp]

Originally posted by firebane
I've only seen chip seal done on rural type roads or highways. Its quite common to see it done on roads that get murdered by frost heaves.

I personally hate it as the sheer amount of damage done to a vehicle because of the chips is nuts and the road before they fix it is a frigging nightmare.

I'm beginning to see it used as crack filler within towns. But you are right, an overlay is usually seen on rural highways. I'm pretty much surrounded by it where I live.

I have no doubts that cities will begin using it at some point.

[2000TL]

Chip seal is cheap and doesn't last long. We used it in rural County road infrastructure projects due to the budget constraints, however they have a poor life span and maintenance crews have to go out constantly to do repairs. As a filler it might be an ok option as its cheap.

[16hypen3sp]

Originally posted by 2000TL
As a filler it might be an ok option as its cheap.

It's not though. It was never designed to be used as a crack filler.

As far as I knew, the overlay was a preventative measure to protect the ashpalt below. When all said and done, I found a properly done overlay was very smooth... loud, but smooth.

It's the crack filling that's really, really bad. As costs rise, you will see more and more cracks being filled with chip seal.

I've noticed most gets ripped off in the winter from the plows anyways.