Lewis County Public Works crews finish preventive maintenance on county roads
Lewis County Public Works crew applying chip seal rock to a road outside of Adna.
CHEHALIS – Lewis County Public Works road maintenance crews have completed their annual summer preventative maintenance chip seal projects.
County road crews placed 63,000 gallons of oil and 1.3 million square yards of crushed rock while resurfacing approximately 100 miles of county roads over the summer.
“It’s the most efficient way to preserve our roads,” Lewis County Road Maintenance Supervisor Justin Bushnell said. “The county’s goal is to resurface roads every seven to 10 years.”
“The oil is sealing up the road and preserving everything underneath it,” Bushnell noted on a recent visit to a project outside of Adna. “The rock (placed on top of the oil) is the wearing surface that provides our traction in the winter, and we see a direct impact on accidents in the winter with the number of incidents going down because drivers gain more traction.”
Lewis County has 1,042 miles of roadway, including 930 miles of chip-seal surface, 66 miles of asphalt and 42 miles of gravel roads.
Prior to chip sealing, each of the county’s five road maintenance shops prep up to 40 miles of roadway in their maintenance area. This includes repairing asphalt, addressing drainage issues, brush cutting, and crack sealing, if needed.
“Our road-oiling crew consists of dedicated employees who put in very long hours and sometimes work their days off to finish the annual maintenance projects on time,” said Lewis County Public Works Road Maintenance Manager Kevin Korpi. “I feel we have some of the best operators in the business.”
Funding for chip seal projects comes from the county roads fund, including motor vehicle fuel tax and timber sales revenues.