There's been a bit of a buzz in suburban circles about an apparent increase in PennDOT's use of tarring and chipping practices to preserve roadway surfaces. From the Beaver County Times LTE page today:
Tarring, chipping ruins bicycle path
Published: Thursday, August 20, 2009 8:15 AM EDT
Why did PennDOT ruin the bicycle and walking path of the side of Dutch Ridge Road in Brighton Township?
In the fall of 2008, PennDOT paved the sides of Dutch Ridge to make a bicycle and walking path. This was great for bicyclists and walkers. It was tax money well spent.
At the end of last week, Penn-DOT tarred and chipped the path, which makes it impossible to ride or walk on it. Taxpayers’ money was foolishly spent on a project that ruined the path.
This was a bad decision on the part of someone at PennDOT, and the path should be restored to a smooth surface so it can be used for the intended purpose.
Al Janaszek
Brighton Township
In 1985, PennDOT put a layer of silk-smooth asphalt along four miles of Arona Road in Hempfield Twp, Westmoreland County, where I lived at the time. Prior to that, they had tar-and-chipped Arona Rd every few years. Fast-forward to about 1993, and guess what: a new layer of tar-and-chip had been applied to all four miles of the then-still-smooth asphalt, approximately on the prior schedule. To this day, I don't know why they did that.
And people wonder why our taxes are so high.
