Chip-seal projects planned for this year will have to wait on the weather, Fulton's interim city engineer said at a recent city council meeting.
However, money set aside for those projects won't go to waste - it will be applied to a number of asphalting projects around town.
Each year, the city prepares a list of the roads most in need of repairs or improvements; money is set aside in the municipal budget for those repairs, though depending on time or monetary constraints, not all projects may be completed in a given year. In mid-August, Bruemmer announced a new slate of planned chip seal and asphalt-overlay projects. The city allocated $235,832 toward the former and $176,883 toward the latter.
Thanks to sharing a bid with Boone County, those repairs could begin in the near future, Bruemmer said back in August.
Unfortunately, cold weather swept in before the full list of chip seal projects could be completed, he told the council at last week's meeting.
Thanks to a change order approved by the council, leftover money will instead be applied toward asphalting projects.
"We have another month to do those, until the temperature is consistently below 40 degrees," Bruemmer said.
A particularly rough portion of Westminster Avenue is the main target of the asphalt project.
"I drive it all the time - it needs the work," said John Braun, Ward 3 councilmember.
The planned chip seal projects aren't falling by the wayside. They'll just be picked up next year instead, Bruemmer said.
A new asphalt overlay may require some milling a day or two in advance, plus a day to apply and allow the asphalt to set. It lasts about 15 years, he added.
A chip seal treatment takes hours to apply, lasts five to seven years and helps preserve a road's structural integrity - preventing the need for more expensive treatment in the future. It involves applying a layer of asphalt binder, laying down aggregate atop that, and rolling over both to mash the rock chips into place.