BILLINGS — As summer begins to settle into Montana, flashes of orange line the streets of Billings—small signs that roadwork season has arrived. To many, they are little more than an inconvenience, but to the people behind the cone zone, the season means something else entirely.
“It’s kind of nice when you have friends and family that you can drive by and say, ‘hey, we paved this road, we chip sealed this road,’” said Donald Foran, chipping superintendent for Hardrives Construction.
This year, the city of Billings is leaning into chip sealing—a cost-effective method of street preservation that can extend road life at a fraction of the cost of traditional overlays.
“We put a lot of money into our roads. Right now, it’s encroaching on $10-million a mile,” said Ken Ard, a city project manager engineer. “The weather conditions can change in a heartbeat … It’s hard on vehicles, drivability, streets wear out.”
Chip sealing costs three to four times less than a street overlay, according to Ard, and helps keep roads in usable shape for longer. That is why crews are moving quickly across town, applying thin layers of oil and gravel to stretch city dollars—and street life—a little further.
“I love my job, it takes me somewhere different every day," said Foran. "Any time you look at it, you’re building your community up.”
