Pine Bluff Road cape seal project scheduled

Grundy County Highway Department has contracted AC Pavement Striping Inc. to install a cape seal on Pine Bluff Road southeast of Morris from Pine Bluff Road to Will Road (Will County line).  
Drivers are strongly encouraged to avoid Pine Bluff Road during the construction work whenever possible. Those who must use Pine Bluff Road should expect delays due to lane closures. These lane closures will occur at various locations and times along Pine Bluff Road. Drivers are reminded to obey all traffic control devices and flaggers they may encounter.  
To decrease the risk of damaging their vehicles, drivers should slow down while driving through the construction zone.  They are also warned that there will be no centerline striping during construction.  
A cape seal is a two-step process. The first step involves oil and chipping the road surface. In this step the road is sprayed with an oil that will seal the road and fill in small cracks in the pavement. The oil is then covered with small crushed stones known as chips.
The oil must be allowed to set up for one to two weeks. Drivers may find loose stones on the roadway during this phase of the process, and should to slow down as driving at high speeds can throw the oil and chips onto vehicles causing damage to painted surfaces.
The second step, known as mircrosurfacing, involves laying a thin layer of an asphalt material over the oil and chip surface. This will leave the road with a smoother riding surface.  After the microsurface has set up, the pavement will be restriped.  
The oil and chipping is tentatively planned to start on Tuesday, Sept. 5, and will take about a week to complete, weather permitting.  The microsurfacing is estimated to start mid to late September and is expected to take a week to complete, weather permitting.  
The purpose of this project is to protect and extend the life of the existing pavement. If drivers have any questions, they may contact the Grundy County Highway Department at 815-942-0363.