ACHD's Road Wizard Sunday, June 30, 2019

Gage is a short street between Curtis Road and Phillippi Street, but there is a little section where there is no pavement, only dirt, and motor vehicles can't use it to get from one side of Gage to the other. It looks like unfinished business, but the businesses to the east are the likely reason the "Gage Gap" exists in the first place.

For that reason, a roadway connection is not likely. But a paved path is a possibility someday.

There was a time ACHD gave away swept-up chips that didn't stick to the road during the chip sealing process, but they are now reused. The rocks have to go through a re-screening process, but it's worth the effort. ACHD spends about a million dollars per year crushing the rocks.

Being stopped in your tracks by a chip sealing operation is frustrating, but the delay is minor compared to the impact of putting fresh asphalt on deteriorated roads. Pavement projects can result in days of road or lane closures and even more congestion. A chip seal is ready for traffic right after it's applied.

But chip sealing work can't be done at night because the application process is dependent on the heat of the day. Typically, crews only hold up traffic for about 10 to 15 minutes.

However, intersections like Cherry Lane and Ten Mile take extra time because crews have to chip seal the additional areas for the turn lanes, including the radii at the corners. This usually happens at a slower rate when compared to mainline chip seal applications.

Standard procedure is for traffic signals to go to blinking-red mode as crews pass through. This allows the flaggers to safely regulate traffic flow through the intersection. Once they return to normal operation, the signals start up where they left off, which may mean waiting a whole cycle before a driver gets their turn.