Cyclebum

Exactly what I was told by local engineers, tho no numbers were mentioned. With our slash and burn legislature setting budgets, there will be lots of unpleasant changes coming to Texas. Depending of course, on your point of view.

There ARE hundreds, maybe thousands, of miles of highways in Texas layered with fine and medium aggregate seal coat, not nearly as noisy and rough as the course aggregate stuff. On a recent trip to the Houston area, I noticed that the closer we got, the quiter and smoother the highways became. TxDOT's budget for Harris county must be higher/mile than other areas.

KD5NRH

That study doesn't take into account the other effect of chipseal; increased tire wear. With the number of people out there who don't do any maintenance on their cars until they have to, that means there are a lot more bald tires than in places where good road surfaces are the norm.

Of course, the other question I'd love to hear a real answer from TXDOT on is how Seattle, Portland, and several other places have paved roads, since every Texas road crew claims they need a clear sunny day to do any patching or resurfacing. Does the PNW have some massive army of road workers to build and fix all their roads in the few clear days they have, or have they figured out how to work through a light rain?

KD5NRH

We're not the only state at the bottom of the map. I don't recall Arizona's or Georgia's roads being that bad, and both of them have insanely hot weather, as well as representing opposite extremes of humidity.

Cyclebum

LOL. Texas may take the longest of any state to finish a project. In Arizona where I have family, they put together expressways in months that would take years to finish in Texas. And if there is any course chipseal in AZ, I have not found it. Nor in NM, or OK, or Ark, or La. Did find some rougher roads even than Texas' in se Ca in the Salton Sea area where I pedaled on the worst 'paved,' bone jaring, rural roads ever there.

Overall tho, in spite of the pervasive use of course chipseal, Texas does have the best maintained highway network in the US, with minimal complaints from motorists.

SClaraPokeman

Cyclists in the SF Bay Area (motor and human powered) are dismayed by the fact that our Highway 35 (aka 'Skyline Blvd') which runs along the crest of the Santa Cruz Mountains for over 20 miles was "repaved" the past year with a horrible 1/2" aggregate which renders pleasurable road biking virtually impossible (and dangerous too).

The was a Caltrans job and rumor is that they hired on the low bidder who had no experience. It's false economy as the work will doubtlessly quickly fall apart. My theory is that is part of the unraveling of the great state. Well I at least got to have my fun on it before han--the next generation OTOH better stick to their video gaming...

Nick Bain

yay chip seal, Im going down to Fredricksburg to ride on the famed chip seal march 22nd-30 which is going to be better than the likely sub freezing temperatures available up hear. So it sounds like 28c is a good number now what is the best style of tyre to use in that size?

Jamesw2

I use panaracer Rib-mo

https://www.bikeforums.net/archive/in.../t-533614.html

https://www.amazon.com/Panaracer-RiBM.../dp/B00AZWWES4

https://www.panaracer.com/urban.php

StephenH

You can pretty well bet that the state told them exactly how to pave it. They don't contract stuff like this out and say "Use whatever looks good to you now!"

tcs

Several years back I had a riding buddy who turned down joining a ride when I told him the route - "Ugh! Too much chip seal."

He's into gravel grinders now.

Nick Bain

Im sorry but anyone complaing about chip seal is a big chicken, without cars we wouldn't even have roads or roadbikes. So get over it and ride bigger tires with less psi, gol!

nkfrench 

One of my favorite bike routes was repaved with very coarse chipseal rendering it extremely unpleasant to drive on in my CAR. It was noisy and overall very jarring. My hands went numb on the steering wheel in less than 10 miles.
A few years later the traffic lanes are somewhat smoother, but the shoulders are still as rough as they were at the repave; plus now they are filled with debris that will flat a bike tire. I will not ride my bike there any more.

FM 1187 between SH-377 and Crowley, south of Lake Benbrook, in case anyone cares.

ctpres

I live on west side of Ft Bend County. It is amazing how fast my bike routes are getting chip seal. Now down to point I will have to drive some distance to find decent bike roads.

Cyclebum

'Some distance' could include OK, AR, KS for smooth, quite highways. I've ridden at least 1500 miles in those state but never on a roadway as rough and noisy as Texas chipseal. The DOT's in those states, and many others, must be negligent to ignore all the safety and cost evidence that favors course aggregate seal coat. Strange.

ctpres

I have had more than one road rash incident on smooth asphalt. I can not begin to imagine what it would be like to hit chip seal at 15-20 mph.

hyegeek

I can. Vividly. I can even imagine the 9 miles to finish the ride after the crash.

Cyclebum

Oh yeah. Left knee still scared from a landing on course chip seal 2 years ago. Ouch. Only two miles to finish.