SHA says patching will take place during the overnight hours.
Frederick, Md. (KM) A project to patch a deteriorated section of Interstate 70 in Frederick County got underway this week. The State Highway Administration says crews will be patching the roadway between Md. 17 (Myersville Road) to Ridge Road.
Spokesman Charlie Gischlar says that requires the use of a hot mix asphalt. Instead of filling in individual potholes, Gischlar says the contractor will cut out a whole area of the roadway, and re-do it with an overlay of asphalt. He says this work is necessary following the freeze and thaw cycles during the winter. “You have that freezing moisture getting into the older pavement. After it freezes, it works its way up, and then it falls during the day. it sinks back down again. When you put the traffic on and it starts to form these potholes,” he says.
The work is expected to completed by the Memorial Day Weekend at a cost of $300,000. The contractor for this project is Slurry Pavers of Richmond, Va.
Gischlar says the work will be done during the overnight hours, and that means road closures. “Eastbound motorists can expect overnight closures between 7:00 {PM} and 4:00 in the morning,” he says. “Eastbound, most people are coming toward down east in the morning hours so that’s why we have to lift that at 4:00 in the morning.”
But, he says, westbound I-70 will remain open a little longer. “So we’re going to start at 9:00 PM, and get off the road by 7:00 AM. So we have a little more latitude because it’s such a directional roadway there,” says Gischlar.
SHA says an average of 70,000 motorists travel that stretch of I-70 each day, but traffic volume tends to fall off during the overnight hours.
By Kevin McManus