Tarring & Chipping: The money-saving road work hated by drivers
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - It's probably safe to say that no one likes to deal with road work.
However, the end result is usually an improvement - but there's one kind of paving that's becoming more common and it doesn't always sit well with drivers.
I'm talking about tar and chipping, a.k.a. seal coating.
The road workers roll their eyes when you ask about driver reaction, but it has become an important tool at a time when highway dollars are stretching thin.
"We spread the tar and then we lay the stone right on top of that hot, wet tar, and the stone embeds in the tar," explained Lori Musto, PennDOT District 11 Assistant Maintenance Manager.
"It's to basically buy us time because we can't afford to pave every road in the county," added Brent Piccola, PennDOT Assistant Maintenance Manager, Butler County.
The official name is seal coating and it does just that.
"Water is our enemy, so as the roadway gets older and it starts to crack, the tar and chip seal those cracks and prevent the water from getting into the roadway underneath the surface," Musto said.
Piccola added that it buys them five to seven years.
That said, drivers don't like the process, the dust, and the stones picking up.
"You know, if the stone doesn't lock in, that's what you feel when you're driving by - you get the ping - it just didn't have enough time to lock into the oil," Piccola said.
It all comes down to economics.
"Seal coat, compared to milling and paving, we're looking at 135,000 per mile savings," Musto said.
So, they do all they can, sweeping before, sweeping after, all in an effort to minimize the stones that get picked up by drivers, the source of aggravation.
It does create a noisier driving surface, but not necessarily rougher. Once the gravel gets embedded in the tar, it's no longer rougher.
Lastly, this method only gets used on lesser traveled roads so you won't see it on the parkway or state routes.
