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More ‘bleeding’ of chip and seal roads could occur this weekend, engineer warns
Motorists asked to drive slowly and avoid black tire marks to minimize material spray
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
FAIRFIELD – Motorists should be mindful of the freshly poured chip and seal on Pleasant Plain Road, which proved to be a sticky mess for cars last weekend and could be again this weekend.
Jefferson County Engineer DeWayne Heintz apologized for the asphalt mixture sticking to car tires and undersides, and warned that there could be more “bleeding” on all the county’s freshly poured chip and seal roads this weekend because of the warm weather. He said temperatures will climb to nearly 100 degrees, and this will mostly affect the new chip and seal on Pleasant Plain Road, but could affect others the county recently worked on such as 110th Street from Highway 1 to West Street in Pleasant Plain, and 218th Boulevard from W40 to the Henry County line.
Heintz said his office had been trying to find the right mixture of asphalt and rock, and was not completely happy with the mixture poured on 218th and so increased the sand for the mixture that was poured on Pleasant Plain Road June 12-13, which he later said was probably a mistake. Rain on Friday, June 13 allowed the oil to float to the top, and when vehicles drove over it, the asphalt mixture stuck to their tires, wheel wells and elsewhere.
On Wednesday morning, June 18, Heintz told The Union that his office had changed the asphalt mixture for the work on Douds Road from H43 to the Van Buren County line. He said they eliminated the second layer of sand they had been applying before, and that the results were “so far so good.” The county also closed portions of Pleasant Plain Road Monday and Tuesday to apply chips and roll them into the mixture.
“This appears to have solved the problem,” Heintz said. “We’ll see how the weekend treats us.”
The Jefferson County Engineer’s Office and Secondary Roads Department has offered to clean vehicles affected by the sticky asphalt at no charge. Residents should call the engineer’s office at 641-472-6528 to schedule a 45-minute appointment where staff will use their “steam cleaner, degreaser and elbow grease” to clean cars, which Heintz said has been working well so far, and added that the county had cleaned 17 cars as of Wednesday morning. The engineer’s office is located at 901 N. Eighth St. in Fairfield.
A phone call placed to the engineer’s office Wednesday morning confirmed that the office was booked for car-cleaning appointments through July 2, and that Smithburg Automotive and Mack’s Automotive were also taking car-cleaning appointments, and would bill the county for the expense.
For those who must travel on these freshly poured chip and seal roads, Heintz recommends driving slowly and avoiding the black tire paths, and to instead run their tires where the chips are to also minimize spraying of material onto their vehicles.
The full list of roads that will receive new chip and seal this summer is as follows:
110th Street from Highway 1 to West Street in Pleasant Plain (5.4 miles)
Pleasant Plain Road from Fairfield City Limits to 167th Street (3.8 miles)
Douds Road from H43 to Van Buren County line (4.6 miles)
218th Boulevard from W40 to Henry County line (1.6 miles)
Old 34 from Jefferson County line going east of Lockridge (0.8 miles)
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
