General

City undertakes “Chip Sealing Road Work” in Pirates Bay

Posted on by Susan Steger

By Chris Whalen
September 6, 2019

After nearly 30 years of service, Pirates Bay’s residential street is finally being resurfaced in the neighborhood. The process is called “chip sealing” which will be followed by micro-surfacing.

Early one morning the work crews got going on the road improvements.

This truck is laying out the liquid asphalt material just ahead of the chip spreader. The side closest to the camera has already been laid.

The chip spreader machine moves quite fast – here it’s laying down a uniform layer of gravel chips into the freshly applied asphalt.

 

The dump truck is locked onto the spreader machine and is towed backward down the street. I believe the spreader operator controls the movement of the dump truck.

 

Instant results but only half complete at this point. The chip sealed surface is not a desirable one by itself so the streets will be micro-surfaced shortly.

After the street is micro-surfaced, a much more user-friendly street will be available for bicycles, strollers, people, and cars (less road-noise, smoother surface).

The work was not completed before Hurricane Dorian skirted our coast. An update will be posted once the roadwork is finished.

Editor’s Note: Chris Whelan joined the United States Navy straight out of college in 1975 and served for 22 years as a Navy Aerographer’s Mate – the Navy’s meteorologists and oceanographers. Chris earned the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Broadcast Seal of Approval in 1994 and was an on-air meteorologist for the local television station WTLV starting in 1986 until he retired in 2004.

Chris came to our island in 1991 lives in the Pirates Bay neighborhood and spends his time photographing the sights of our wonderful island, collecting and restoring vintage cameras, and being involved with local environmental issues, and enjoying his family. We thank Chris for his contributions to the Fernandina Observer.