Boise Drivers Gripe As This Unpopular Road Process Takes Place

Tis the season for...awful road conditions in Boise? Look, it's hotter than the surface of the sun in Boise these days. Nobody is really enjoying this. But bad roads, in the summer?

We are well aware of how bad road conditions can get here in Boise during the winter-- rain, frozen rain, snow, ice, black ice...we could go on. If you don't have good tires and at least front-wheel drive--good luck!

Summer roads, however? They should be all clear, right?

Not so fast Treasure Valley: it's chip seal season.

What is chip sealing and why is it going on seemingly everywhere right now? It's a process that, according to local road and highway experts, extends the life of our roads here in the Treasure Valley to upwards of 7-8 years. The process which aims to save tax payers money on repairs and keep our roads open is a bit of a pain, however.

In fact, Boise drivers everywhere are "griping" quite a bit about the process.

First, big machines lay down hot oil onto the roads--trucks closely follow them, dropping a whole lot of rock. Then, trucks behind all of this commotion roll the rock into the oil to try and prevent free rocks from flying ever which way.

Crews work really hard to efficiently chip seal so that loose gravel isn't all over our roads--but when vehicles drive fast over stuff stuff, they're going to be throwing rocks up and that isn't good for anyone's windshields or paint jobs. You will often see reduced speed limit signs--but it seems that rarely are those followed very reliably.

Look, we hate the chip sealing process as much as the next person but if there is one moral to the story--please be courteous on the roads--keep that car washed if you're driving over all of the chip sealing, and most importantly: be patient.

Learn where in Boise chip sealing is headed, HERE.

Does the 'pain' of chip sealing even compare to these oh-so-unpopular intersections in the Boise area?

We might all hate how traffic is around these chip sealing projects--however, let's try and avoid falling into these stereotypical Boise patterns when we have to slow down a little...yeah?