4-Day SR 3 Chip Seal Operation Begins This Thursday

Jefferson and Jennings Counties

JEFFERSON & JENNINGS COUNTIES—Indiana Department of Transportation maintenance crews will chip seal State Road 3 beginning Thursday (JULY 19), weather permitting, between S.R. 356 in Jefferson County and the Muscatatuck River bridge near S.R. 250 in southern Jennings County.   

This operation will continue Friday and Monday (JULY 20, 23).   

On Tuesday (JULY 24), INDOT hopes to extend the chip seal north from the river bridge to S.R. 3’s junction with S.R. 7 near North Vernon.  

A fog seal is scheduled for application on the first S.R. 3 section—beginning July 26.  The second section is slated to be fog sealed on July 31.  Again, inclement weather could delay these surface treatments. 

Chip seals coat the existing pavement with liquid asphalt—sealing cracks and protecting the roadbed from harmful ultraviolet rays.  This extends service life and lowers maintenance costs.  Small chips of limestone are used to cover the asphalt—choking it from spraying vehicles or sticking to tires.  The aggregate chips also restore surface friction for improved skid resistance and driver safety.   

Fog seals are light sprays of liquid asphalt that lock in the stone and further overcoat the highway with sealant protection. 

These chip and fog seals are extremely cost-effective.  Experience shows that every $1 spent on these kinds of surface treatments saves $6 to $14 in taxpayer expenditures “down the road”.