City to Begin Chip Sealing on Brooks, Higgins, and Mount Avenue

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - The City of Missoula announced on Monday that the annual chip sealing process to protect city streets will begin on July 29.

I spoke with Brian Hensel, Deputy Public Works Director for Streets in Missoula on Tuesday about the upcoming chip sealing project.

Summer Means Chip Sealing on Missoula Streets

“You can look online at our website and you’ll see the map,” began Hensel. “There are some changes. Part of the map was inadvertently cut off but we are getting that corrected. We will be chip-sealing three main routes. We’re going to be doing Mount first from Brooks to Hill and Higgins. Then we’ll do Hill, and then we’ll do Brooks from Higgins to Mount, and then the last one we’ll start on Higgins from Brooks to South.”

Hensel again asked the public to slow down and drive very cautiously over the freshly chip-sealed streets.

“Again, I ask the public to please drive carefully through a freshly chip-sealed street,” he said. “We’ll have workers in place and traffic control set up. Please refrain from stomping on the gas pedal and peeling the rocks up because it damages the chip seal and then leaves a gap for water to get in eventually will lead to potholes.”

The Work will be on Brooks, Higgins, and Mount Streets

Hensel was mindful that these are some of Missoula’s most heavily traveled streets, so his crews would make the delays as brief as possible.

“These are high-traffic areas, but we’re hoping that we can keep at least one lane of traffic open at all times,” he said. “Chip sealing, fortunately though is a fairly quick process, and if you do get detoured it will be a short-term interruption, although we may have to stop people for just a few minutes while the equipment is going by applying the chips.”

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Hensel said he Hopes to Complete the Chip Sealing by August 1

Hensel said he hopes the project will be completed quickly and on time.

“I’m hoping to have everything wrapped up by next Thursday, which will be August 1,” he said. “On our website, you’ll notice that I scheduled it out a little further, just because of unpredictable things like weather, or equipment issues, or oil delivery; so I like to give us a little more time if we need it.”

Hensel again asked drivers to slow down in the chip sealing areas to keep the city workers safe, and to protect your own vehicle from the oil and chips.