Pavers smooth highway through Sisters

The roads to and through Sisters received a fresh coat of asphalt last week as crews worked to freshen old pavement and repair sections damaged by heavy trucks during the rebuild of that section of Highway 20 washed away by winter storms.

In downtown Sisters, a giant milling machine ground out three inches of old pavement, according to Jack Boatwright, one of two Project Team leaders in the Bend construction office of the Oregon Department of Transportation (the other works on the parkway).

Although the old paving was replaced with brand new, Boatwright lamented there wasn't money to do more.

"We hope it solves the short-term problem in Sisters. We would have liked to do this project curb to curb. We did do an extra width of 7 feet from Pine Street to The Gallery (to merge with new paving which covers the water line trench)... I wish we could have gone through town that way," Boatwright said.

Asphalt paving is not cheap. The one mile through Sisters and a mile on Highland Ave in Redmond together cost about $400,000.

The contractor for the project was Roy L. Houck of Salem. Boatwright thought there were about 20 workers in town including flaggers "plus a crew at the asphalt plant and a whole fleet of truck drivers."

The asphalt plant was located out between Powell Butte and Prineville. It's a new plant, Boatwright said, operated by Harney Rock.

That was responsible for a two-day delay in the project, which was intended to be completed on Monday and Tuesday.

"They couldn't calibrate the plant. They got hold of the manufacturer, discovered that they might have a computer problem. The plant manufacturer sent in a new mother board for the computer. Got it installed and calibrated late on Tuesday," said Boatwright. Which allowed the project to proceed on Wednesday.

"Working with Houck taught Harney Rock what they needed to know about how to do big paving projects like this. It resulted in a very, very good asphalt mix," he said.

"Good asphalt" is defined by the ODOT laboratories in Salem, according to Boatwright. About 250 pounds of several sizes of crushed rock, plus samples of the asphalt oil the contractor uses, are sent to the lab in Salem. The lab tests the various mixes specifies a final paving mix.

"This company produced a mix almost right dead in the middle," said Boatwright.

A good mix lasts longer, he explained.

ODOT tries to design paving for a 10 to 15 year life. In central Oregon, it is frequently less because of the use of studded tires and softer rock used in asphalt mix.

The 4,100 cubic yards of ground up asphalt was trucked out to the state gravel pit one-mile east of Sisters toward Redmond.

"The county has used it to do shoulder work. It makes a really good base on the shoulders of county roads. It is stronger than base rock because of the asphalt binder, but is harder to work with than asphalt binder. It is not as smooth," Boatwright said.

It is not strong enough to be used as a base on the state highways, he indicated.

New paint stripes on the road way are scheduled for about the first of May.