If this crap hasn’t become the standard paving material where you live, then count yourself lucky!
They recently repaved every road north of town with this stuff for many miles… every decent route. That includes the TT course and my field testing course! All were much nicer to cycle on before, even though the pavement was worn in spots. I did a long ride yesterday that was nearly all chipseal and wanted to cry. Hands and feet and back would go numb. My 23mm GP4000s were pumped to 80psi, but that isn’t nearly low enough to make a significant difference. Maybe I’ll have to go to an MTB with slicks pumped to 20psi.
I thought about complaining… but then considered how puny the lobbying body of cyclists is around here, and how most motorists would be willing to pay extra to discourage cycling… and well, it would probably have the opposite effect.
It is a cost thing… chipseal uses less oil which is why it has become more economical and more widely used compared to asphalt… and I guess the highway departments have gotten some money they need to spend, which is why they did them all at once. So it looks like the only tactic I could possibly take is if the increased tire wear and reduced fuel mileage negates the cost savings. So then it would be basically be taxing people a different way and not really saving money. But I don’t know if that is true.
It is possible to use the same process but make the road much smoother, by putting another layer on top with smaller aggregate. They did that to a few miles of one road, but that was it… they are now done.
Anybody have any helpful suggestions on how to persuade the road dept, or how to live with it?
wider tires?
gatorskin or similar?
less air pressure?
the worst of it usually wears pretty quickly from the cars and trucks. chipseal would better and safer for bikes than some of the potholed roads we have around here.
Almost every road here in South East Pa and NJ is chip and seal. I’ve seen them pave a road smooth and chip it a month later. I really think it’s some kind of scam where construction companies are paid to pave a road the right way, then they cheap out and chip it to pocket the difference .
Almost every road here in South East Pa and NJ is chip and seal.** I’ve seen them pave a road smooth and chip it a month later.** I really think it’s some kind of scam where construction companies are paid to pave a road the right way, then they cheap out and chip it to pocket the difference .
They just did that out here. Beautiful paving job last year, this year crappy chip seal right over the top. It’s a small town, so I may ask the city manager what the deal is. I have the feeling they are listening to the contracting company and not common sense.
The worst part is that they didn’t fix the bad parts of other roads. Just chip-seal over the holes and cracks. Now they blend in more and are harder to dodge. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
I’ve seen them pave a road smooth and chip it a month later.
They did that a couple years ago to the main 4 lane road south of town. Beautiful new smooth pavement… then they slathered on the gnarliest chip seal I’ve seen.
Except for a short section of Airport Rd, that is the only road around here that has a shoulder, and they didn’t chipseal that part. I used to avoid riding on that road because the shoulder is always covered with gravel, dirt, glass, staples, nails, screws, etc… but now it is the only place I can ride and experience smooth pavement. How things change! The chipseal mania has all happened in the 8 years since I moved here.
My experience is that it is brutal at first but wears down and seems to smooth out from vehicle traffic pretty quickly.
They do improve somewhat with age, but every chipseal job is different. Some are much rougher than others. About half my ride yesterday was on a 3 year old chipseal, and though it is better than when it was new, it is still terrible. Basically you trade a partial smoothing down of the gravel for bigger imperfections due to wear.
I think any campaign against a crappy chipseal job needs to be via educating how much damage chip sealing does to a person’s vehicle. The direct damage is from loose stones themselves pitting paint and providing an avenue for corrosion to start. On chip seal jobs where the contractor cuts corners (quality) by using a larger aggregate, the damage often includes broken windshields in the days and weeks following the job. I have yet to see a contracting company clean the roads of loose aggregate after the sealing is complete as the loose material migrates to the shoulders and center, and the larger bits get kicked up and/or tumble into opposite direction traffic. The loose stones are certainly an injury hazard to motorcyclists. The less obvious costs directly beared by the driver is massively increased tire wear and higher rolling resistance that increases fuel consumption.
It’s everywhere in WI as well. The worst part is the intersections and shoulders have “loose gravel” for months or worse after application.
It seems if they do it early on in the life of the pavement it’s better. If they wait until potholes / etc all it does is cover those up so you can’t see them and makes the road even rougher. There are a few roads around here that are chip sealed plus have the “shattered pavement” look. It’s hard to hold onto the handle bars on those roads.
The chipseal makes riding the TT bike an absolutely miserable experience and I can’t find good pavement on which to ride it! Then when you wedge a rock between the tire and beautiful Project 1 paint it only salts the wound.
Asphalt is expensive, but needs to be done less often, chipseal is dirt cheap shit, but needs to be done every few years at a minimum so it’s easier to budget for a small expense every few years even if it costs more in the long term.
You’ll never convince cities and voters to pay more, even if it does cost less and create less wear and tear to their cars.
Crazy that you posted this today… just last night I was riding one of my favorite routes and discovered multiple roads had been chip sealed. I thought “Ugh, we’re STILL suffering from the effects of last winter, I wonder if others in the Midwest are seeing the same thing”.
Then, bam, you go and post this.
Yep, it’s all over the place in Ohio - pretty much can’t avoid it without moving to more heavily traveled roads. I do my best to temporarily avoid the worst roads then they end up back to “ok” after a month or two of traffic.
I’m in Northern Virginia, we’re starting to get a lot of latex-modified emulsion surfaces. I don’t know how it differs from traditional chip-seal, but I dislike it equally.
around here (NE Ohio) some road depts are better than others at how they do it. One in particular – not sure if county or township – seems to use the biggest freakin stones that they can find. I think they take secret delight in seeing how painful they can make it. Other road depts seem able to make a reasonably smooth road with chipseal (like in the picture).
And yeah, I’ve seen them chipseal over fresh asphalt.
Around here when they do that, it’ll wear in over time but if they do the shoulders, it never wears in as the cars and trucks don’t drive there (well unless there is a cyclist). But, our biggest issue is still gravel. They gravel (sand?) the toads in winter so come spring, the shoulders are completely coated. All the gravel has been pushed to the shoulders by the vehicles so the main road is clear. Over the summer, the shoulders slowly get better and then it is winter again. In some cases they will sweep the gravel off but not always.
Having said that, we do have some rural roads that are great.
And, with the Calgary HIM coming up, they make sure that the course is swept so it’ll be in really great condition.
