Street Crack Maintenance
The City Council at their August 16, 2022 meeting approved the contract for the 2022 street crack maintenance project. Contractors will begin work in mid-September. This routine street maintenance helps the City preserve the life span of our streets and helps prevent potholes. This is project is a budgeted expense.
Crack sealing is a type of preventative maintenance used to prevent the intrusion of water and incompressible materials into cracks. When water enters cracks, it can soften the sub-base and base layers and lead to further cracking and the development of more severe alligator cracking and the formation of potholes. In climates where freeze/thaw cycles exist, the water that enters the system through cracks can lead to issues with frost heaving. Crack sealing should be completed as preventative maintenance early on in the life of a new pavement or overlay (year 2-4) and roughly every seven years or as determined to be necessary. This technique will not improve the structural capacity of the pavement but will benefit future structural deterioration that could be caused when water enters the system. It is recommended that crack sealing be done prior to either fog sealing or chip sealing.