If you’ve crossed a street midday during a Boise summer, you know the heat simmering off the asphalt is no joke. If it’s 100 degrees outside, the pavement can hit 140 degrees, said Lloyd Carnegie, the maintenance manager for the Ada County Highway District.
He would know. This summer, there were nearly 20 days of temperatures over 100 degrees, which meant that road crews working on chip sealing — the process of covering a road with liquid asphalt and a layer of crushed rocks to keep out water and extend the road’s lifespan — repeatedly had to stop work for safety reasons.
Crews also had to stop work for seven days this summer because of poor air quality, Rachel Bjornestad, a spokesperson for ACHD, told the Idaho Statesman.
The result? Road crews were able to complete only about 300 lane miles out of their planned 439, according to an October ACHD news release .