The Indiana Department of Transportation will begin chip sealing along S.R. 121 Tuesday morning from S.R. 44 on the south side of Connersville to U.S. Highway 52.
Maintenance crews hope to complete pavement operations along the 25 lane miles of north-south highway by midday Thursday, weather permitting.
Flaggers will be on site to direct traffic around state workers and equipment.
INDOT officials strongly advise motorists to drive with caution and at slow speeds on roads where chip seal has been freshly applied.
Chip seal applications involve spraying liquid asphalt on the roadway, then topping it with small chips of limestone aggregate. This process extends service life of the highway by sealing pavement from moisture intrusion and ultraviolet ray degradation. In addition, chip seals improve safety for the motoring public by restoring a high coefficient of friction for added skid resistance.
A fog seal will be placed atop the S.R. 121 surface at a later date.
Chip seal/fog seal applications are extremely cost-effective for Hoosier tax payers. Experience shows that every $1 spent on this kind of surface treatment today saves $6 to $14 in expenditures later.
