This story has been updated to include two additional streets.
Montgomery County announces the 2024 spring and summer road maintenance plan for paved roads. The maintenance plan consists of a variety of applications including hot mix asphalt, cold mix asphalt, chip seal and cape seal. The county’s gravel road maintenance plan will be released in the next week.
The county has established an objective evaluation process to determine the roadway sections that will receive one of the applications. The ranking of roadway sections based on objective criteria ensures that the maintenance plan is as fair, efficient and effective as possible in meeting the needs of maintaining the county roads.
Roadway sections that get paved by highway department crews with cold mix asphalt are selected based on the following factors: time spent by the highway department maintaining the section of roadway, the number of potholes in the section, traffic volume, road condition rating and the work order volume for the section.
Roadway sections that receive a chip seal application by highway department crews are the roads that were paved with cold mix asphalt in the prior year. Other roadway sections to be chip sealed are selected based on the road condition rating and the determination that this type of application is the most effective treatment to preserve the roadway section.
Roadway sections that get paved by a contractor with hot mix asphalt are selected based on one of the following factors: location of the roadway section along the asphalt roadway “loop” around Crawfordsville, the roadway section is a major entry and exit corridor for the County and the roadway section is classified as a major or minor thoroughfare.
Roadway sections that will receive a cape seal application by a contractor in 2024 were selected based on the following factors: preservation of major economic corridors and neighborhood roads.
The local funding sources for maintenance of the roads are the gas tax and the wheel tax/surtax. In 2024, the gas tax is estimated to provide $4.335 million of revenue for the highway department and the wheel tax/surtax is estimated to provide $1.26 million. Hot mix asphalt paving and the cape seal application in 2024 is funded by the State with a 25% match by the county.
2024 Road Maintenance Plan for Paved Roads
Hot Mix Asphalt Paving: Contractor
State Grant: 2023 fall award for hot mix asphalt
Paving bid award: $1,124,000
• Concord Road between city limits and 400N (1.931 miles)
• 150S between Ladoga Road and Nucor Road (3.019 miles)
• 700N between U.S. 231 and 100W (0.98 miles)
• 600S between U.S.231 and New Market city limits (0.637 miles)
• 600S between State Road 47 and New Market city limits (1.325 miles)
Cold Mix Asphalt Paving: Highway department crews
Project cost estimate: $674,800
• 1100S between 550E and 875E (3.33 miles)
• 440N between State Road 25 and 1000W (1.32 miles)
• 1050E between U.S. 136 and 800S (2.49 miles)
Cape Seal Preservation Application: Contractor
State grant: 2024 spring award for cape seal preservation application
Project cost estimate: $1,725,954.05
Neighborhoods: All roads within the neighborhood.
• Nucor Road (includes grading along the edge of the road to remove soil)
• Lye Creek
• Cadillac Drive
• Chigger Hollow
• Winslow Drive
• Carrington Hills
• Golf View
• Big Four Arch
• Manning Place
• Watson Drive
• Country Club Court
• Stone Crest
• Oak Hill Farms
• Farmington Hills
• Sommer Lane
• Logan Road
• Joyce and Stanley Drive
• Kiger
• Fairway
• Del Mar
Chip Seal Application: Highway department crews
Project cost estimate: $678,466
• 150N between 875W and 650W
• 83N between U.S. 136 and dead end
• 875W between 150N and Waynetown
• 350E between 800N and 1000N
• 150N dead end and 1075E
• 1075E between 150N and State Road 32
• 275E between State Road 47 and 500N
• 200W between 50S and Bridge 139
• 150S between 200W and 325W
• 750W between State Road 47 and State Road 47
• 600W between 600S and State Road 234
• 400S between Alamo and 600W
• Black Creek Valley Road between U.S. 136 and 400W
• 225W between Black Creek Valley and Country Club
• 300W between Black Creek Valley and U.S. 136
• 625W between 950S and State Road 234
• 300S between 1000E and 1100E
• 900S between U.S 231 and 275E
• 275E between 900S and State Road 234
• 310E between 500S and 750S
• 775E between 500S and 700S
Types of maintenance applications:
Hot Mix Asphalt
Hot mix asphalt is a mixture of aggregates such as sand, gravel, and asphalt cement which is then heated before being applied. The mix is heated at the asphalt plant before being trucked and applied on a County road.
Cold Mix Asphalt
Cold mix asphalt paving is a cost-effective alternative to hot mix asphalt paving. The process requires mixing aggregate with asphalt emulsion, which is then applied to the roadway using a specialized paver. The County uses its own cold mix asphalt plant and paver for this process. Roadway sections that receive a cold mix asphalt application must be covered with a chip seal application the following year in order to preserve the asphalt.
Chip Seal
The chip seal roadway surface application consists of a layer of asphalt emulsion with a layer of embedded aggregate. It establishes a new skid resistant wearing surface, stops raveling of the road, seals cracks and retards the further deterioration of the existing road.
Cape Seal
The cape seal roadway application consists of a chip seal application with the chip seal being covered with a micro seal consisting of asphalt, cement, fibers, sand and limestone.
The preservative seal will extend the life of each road by creating a seal that will prevent moisture from penetrating the top layer of existing asphalt which can cause potholes. The seal also creates a new wearing surface on top of the existing layer of asphalt.
