Crack sealing and the states that do it most

[STLmapboy]

Looking at aerial views and GSV, I can't help but be astonished at the amount of crack sealing Ohio does. It is not uncommon to sealant snaking across the pavement in coily black lines all over the road (see here). I wondered how beneficial it really was until our family went driving in California and constantly found ourselves rumbling across cracks that were indistinguishable and hadn't been sealed. Missouri uses crack seal, but not extensively, and cracks are more likely to go undisturbed.

What about your state? How does crack seal usage vary?

[I-55]

After about five years every road in Indiana looks like this

[Dirt Roads]

NCDOT District 7 uses tons of crack sealant on certain roads here in Orange County, North Carolina.  Right now, I don't see a lot of highways around here covered with crack sealant, but US-70 throughout the whole county looked like small puzzle pieces before a number of sections were repaved (over the past 5 years).  I don't see this so much in other districts (Durham is in NCDOT District 5).  Also, I don't recall crack sealant used as much elsewhere in District 7 such as Alamance and Guilford counties (think Burlington and Greensboro). 

Our section of US-70 may be a special case.  IIRC, lanes on US-70 were widened between say 2002 and 2007 in part using Federal bike lane monies.  Folks here were shocked when the final lane striping left out the bike lanes, and marked out 15-foot lanes with 3-foot paved berms.  But this has worked better for bikes than I could imagine. 

Heavier traveled secondaries are repaved with asphalt and lighter traveled secondaries are repaved chip-seal.  But until recently, repairs were opposite:  asphalt got patched with chip-seal, chip-seal got patched with asphalt.  Both were usually big patches (say minimum 3' by 6').  We live on a lightly used back road, and for the past few year we started getting chip-seal over chip-seal.  But this summer we got small asphalt patches in potholes (hand tamper).  Certainly due to NCDOT financial woes.

[tigerwings]

US 24 east of I-475 makes the location in Columbus look like minor patch work. Google Maps does not show the westbound side after the latest crack sealing, its worse. Very slick when wet.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5567307,-83.6775084,3a,75y,19.02h,69.14t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxkz0sxwicF-rKgCP16ABtA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e1

[STLmapboy]

US 24 east of I-475 makes the location in Columbus look like minor patch work. Google Maps does not show the westbound side after the latest crack sealing, its worse. Very slick when wet.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5567307,-83.6775084,3a,75y,19.02h,69.14t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxkz0sxwicF-rKgCP16ABtA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e1

Jesus that's excessive. It looks like a bunch of snakes slithering across the roadway! 
Sometimes it's amazing how small the cracks are that get sealed. Here's a before and after picture just two months apart!

[kphoger]

I love the sound of car tires on all those tar-snakes.

[RobbieL2415]

CT has been doing it for a long time. But now they're doing crack sealing and permanent patches and then an epoxy seal on TOP of the entire road surface.

[hbelkins]

Kentucky has done a small amount in the past. It's becoming more frequent, especially if there's going to be a preventive maintenance paving project (cape seal, chip seal, etc.) on that road. Locally, a stretch of road was crack-sealed fall before last, then the preventive maintenance work was done the following summer.

[jeffandnicole]

Some of NJ's roads are nothing more than crack sealing.

[Rothman]

Not a road, but the Angel Oak south of Charleston, SC has a large limb that they decided to dump a bunch of crack sealing into in an attempt to keep it from falling.

Given all the supports they've built over the years, I'm on the side of just letting nature take its course.  Let the tree fall down.

[Dirt Roads]

NCDOT District 7 uses tons of crack sealant on certain roads here in Orange County, North Carolina.  Right now, I don't see a lot of highways around here covered with crack sealant, but US-70 throughout the whole county looked like small puzzle pieces before a number of sections were repaved (over the past 5 years).  I don't see this so much in other districts (Durham is in NCDOT District 5).  Also, I don't recall crack sealant used as much elsewhere in District 7 such as Alamance and Guilford counties (think Burlington and Greensboro). 

Our section of US-70 may be a special case.  IIRC, lanes on US-70 were widened between say 2002 and 2007 in part using Federal bike lane monies.  Folks here were shocked when the final lane striping left out the bike lanes, and marked out 15-foot lanes with 3-foot paved berms.  But this has worked better for bikes than I could imagine. <snipped>

Was coming back from Durham yesterday when I noticed crack-seal on US-70 west of Hillsborough.  This is new from this Summer, as the sealant covers the lane markings.  I couldn't tell if all of the crack-seal is new, but it doesn't look like there is any under the centerlines.  It is continuous all the way to the east end of Mebane at Seventh Street, where the remainder of Center Street (US-70) was paved last Summer (2019).  The only exception is a small stretch in front of the Dollar General at the corner of Frazier Road, where the project included a new center turn lane (3 years ago IIRC).  I suspect that the crack-seal goes all the way east to the Durham city/county line, but I will check sometime.

[Dirt Roads]

Was coming back from Durham yesterday when I noticed crack-seal on US-70 west of Hillsborough.  This is new from this Summer, as the sealant covers the lane markings.  I couldn't tell if all of the crack-seal is new, but it doesn't look like there is any under the centerlines.  It is continuous all the way to the east end of Mebane at Seventh Street, where the remainder of Center Street (US-70) was paved last Summer (2019).  The only exception is a small stretch in front of the Dollar General at the corner of Frazier Road, where the project included a new center turn lane (3 years ago IIRC).  I suspect that the crack-seal goes all the way east to the Durham city/county line, but I will check sometime.

The crack-seal section starts at the NC-86 intersection just north of Hillsborough.  Pavement to the east is newer, including the brand-new section over the temporary bridge over the Eno River.

<snipped> It is continuous all the way to the east end of Mebane at Seventh Street, where the remainder of Center Street (US-70) was paved last Summer (2019). 

It is odd, but the short section between Ninth Street and Seventh Street is in Alamance County.  Both Orange and Alamance are in NCDOT Section 7, but I was under the impression that road patching was the responsibility of the NCDOT Division of Highways County Office.  There may be a special District 7 contract for the crack-seal project.  Fun fact:  Eighth Street doesn't connect to US-70, but there is a private roadway connecting to parallel Clay Street where Eighth Street would be located.

[MikieTimT]

Arkansas used to do it a ton in the western part of the state, but more recently, they overlay with chip and seal or just mill and recycle the aggregate with fresh asphalt.

[Bruce]

Washington does it quite a lot, even in temperate areas west of the Cascades.