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The Ottawa County Road Commission will start its 2023 seal coat (chip seal) program this month.
This year's program is budgeted at over $1.5 million using Michigan Transportation Fund dollars, and will be focused on nearly 54 miles of streets in Grand Haven, Olive and Port Sheldon townships.
The 2023 program is tentatively scheduled to begin on June 12 and run through July. All dates and schedules are weather dependent and subject to change. Check our web and social media pages for schedule updates.
What is chip seal?
A chip seal is an application of a binder in the form of an asphalt emulsion or hot spray and an application of an aggregate.
Chip seals protect, preserve and extend pavement life, resulting in a pavement that is better to drive on, look at, and will cost less to maintain in the long run. A chip seal will not increase the strength of existing pavement. However, it will prolong the life of the pavement by providing a protective coating.
Chip sealing is a three-stage process. After the surface has been prepared by patching areas that are cracked or loose, a thin layer of emulsion or tack oil is applied.
Then, a layer of aggregate is applied by a truck with a chip spreader.
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The third and final operation is several passes from a roller to compact the aggregate.
The road is usually opened to traffic after sweeping or may be opened to slow-moving traffic immediately.
The OCRC typically returns several weeks later to perform the second stage in the chip seal process: applying a fog seal atop the newly chip sealed road.
A complete list of roads to be treated can be found here.
Additional Resources:
Chip Seal Process Flyer
Chip Seal Educational Video
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 TOP: A map of HFST application areas on Fillmore St. in Georgetown Twp. MIDDLE: Crews apply a HFST to a road in Oakland County, Mich.
The Ottawa County Road Commission is planning to use an innovative solution to help improve traffic safety on Fillmore Street in Georgetown Twp.
Contractors for the Road Commission will be installing a high-friction surface treatment (HFST) to sections of Fillmore Street between 36th Avenue and Cottonwood Drive.
The areas that are a part of the treatment include:
- The hill/curves between 36th and 28th avenues
- The curve at the intersection of Fillmore Street/Cottonwood Drive.
HFST involves the application of very high-quality aggregate to the pavement using a polymer binder to restore and/or maintain pavement friction at existing or potentially high crash areas. The higher pavement friction helps motorists maintain better control in both dry and wet driving conditions.
The surface treatment begins with cleaning fresh asphalt to apply an epoxy to the road surface, followed by a layer of high-quality, small and coarse gravel.
As for the effectiveness of HFSTs, studies have shown that in the year after application, crash reduction can be as high as 69%.
The treatment was originally scheduled to be completed last fall after the re-paving work on Fillmore Street, however delays in other parts of the project pushed the application back to this year.
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 OCRC crews participate in a spring training event at the Coopersville district garage in May.
The Ottawa County Road Commission is committed to making sure its work crews are equipped with the latest knowledge about safety when they head out in the field.
To help in this effort, Road Commission employees recently took part in a day-long spring training event held at the Coopersville district garage on Friday, May 19.
The day-long event brought together employees from all four district garages -- Coopersville, Grand Haven, Hudsonville and North Holland -- and included training on a variety of topics, including:
- Traffic control
- Safety around gas lines and other underground utilities
- Safe truck operation
- Workplace/jobsite personal protective equipment refreshers
The Road Commission frequently holds employee trainings, certifications, and toolbox safety talks throughout the year for new and existing employees to make sure its employees are current with safety standards and best practices when working out in the field.
Illicit discharge contains any substance other than stormwater that ends up in the storm sewer system. It is any discharge (or seepage) to the separate storm water drainage system that is not composed entirely of storm water or uncontaminated groundwater.
Illicit Connection is a physical connection to a separate storm water drainage system that primarily conveys illicit discharges into the system and/or is not authorized or permitted by the local authority (where a local authority requires such).
Why is it illicit? The Clean Water Act requires that municipalities with separate storm sewer systems adopt Illicit Discharge Elimination Plans in order to prohibit and eliminate any pollution from entering the system and ultimately entering the local lakes, rivers, and streams.
Sources of Illicit Discharge
- Improper disposal of automobile fluids or household wastes
- Improper oil disposal
- Discharge from septic tanks and fields
- Spills from roadway accidents
- Radiator flushing disposal
- Laundry wastewaters
- Leaves, debris, or other yard waste that is raked into a storm drain
Exemptions:
- Landscape irrigation
- Discharges from potable water sources
- Air conditioning condensate
- Water from crawl space pumps
- Foundation drains
To protect the quality of our streams and public health, please report sources of pollution you witness along the roadside, roadside parks, or in your neighborhood, including:
- Dumping waste/oil or other vehicle fluids
- Suspicious pipes outletting to ditches
You can do this anonymously by contacting your local community officials or by calling the pollution emergency alerting system hotline at: 800-292-4706.
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