Idaho Statesman reports, during the summer of 2024, 139 miles of roads in and around Boise, Idaho, didn’t get scheduled chip sealing maintenance. The reason: “[T]here were nearly 20 days of temperatures over 100 degrees,” twice the number recorded in 2023, and seven days of significantly poor air quality. Between atmospheric pollution and pavement temperatures rising as high as 140 degrees, maintenance crews had to take safety-related work breaks on 25 days.
Last week, the director of the regional road maintenance agency, the Ada County Highway District, told his board the increase in smoke from wildfires and the high temperatures are part of a new trend that is driving an agency reevaluation of its approach to preventative maintenance. The district hasn’t yet decided what to do about last summer’s incomplete projects.