Spring Dust Control

After a long winter and spring break up, the roads are finally thawing again and drying out.  Our recent run of dry weather has created perfect conditions for the formation of dust. The sequence of work for Spring Dust Control is very specific, and roads become ready at different times depending upon elevation and adjacent property tree coverage (shade). The Public Works Department first has to wait for the frost to come out of the road and the road to dry out enough to support the weight of the 40,000-lb grader. Then once the road is dry enough, the road needs to be graded to re-establish proper crown and drainage and remove all the potholes and washboard that formed.  Once the road is properly graded, Calcium Chloride can be applied. Calcium Chloride not only reduces dust but it also makes a firmer road which reduces the frequency of needing to grade it. Therefore, the City desires to apply this Calcium Chloride as soon as possible to reduce maintenance costs to the taxpayers. However, doing it too early when the road is not ready to support the heavy equipment can cause severe damage to the road costing the taxpayer even more money to repair the roads.

This recent stretch of good weather has added an additional twist, and this happens periodically. The Calcium Chloride requires the road to have a little moisture in order to set up within the road surface. Periodically we have to add some water to the road to assist the Calcium Chloride to do it’s job. You may see a water truck over the next week or two applying some water to the road as well as the Calcium Chloride until we get some rain to assist us.

Please bear with us as we try to do this season’s Calcium Chloride application. This process takes our staff approximately two to three weeks to treat approximately 30 miles of Homer’s gravel roads. Believe it or not, not every road is quite ready yet. Some roads that are a little dusty still have frost and saturated soil above the frost, so even through they are a little dusty, they are not quite ready to bear the weight of the heavy equipment.