Rowan County road crews are exploring a new means to repair potholes on county roads.
Steve Kelsey is the Foreman of the Rowan County Road Department. He said a representative from EZ Street Asphalt brought a sample of their product for the department to try out, and Kelsey said he was pleased with the outcome. As a result, the county has purchased several pallets of the new asphalt.
Kelsey said the product has a finer grit with more oil content, which means it fills potholes a bit better than the asphalt that was used previously. He added the prices of the two materials are comparable.
“It’s a little expensive. $15 a bag is what it costs, but the stuff we’d normally get, we were paying like $1,500 for 16 or 17 ton of it,” he said. “So really, it equals out about the same, but you know, for the same money if you can get something to hold up a lot better, I say that’s why we done it.”
Kelsey said the road department secured permission from the Rowan County Fiscal Court to order more of the new product, and crews recently received that shipment. He said that delivery means crews can stay on top of the demand for fixes.
“The four magistrates, I mean, when they get out and run their area, they’ll turn a list in to me. Which, I’m out all over the county just about, you know, every day of the week, and then I’ll come in, just get a list together, and send a crew out,” he said.
Kelsey said that because the asphalt comes in 50-pound bags, he’s able to send multiple crews out at once to different areas of the county, so they’re able to repair more potholes faster.
The Road Foreman said the patches they’ve made so far have held up to salt and snow removal vehicles.