I-90 Work Will Slow Down Traffic Crews To Grind, Repave Highway Between Pines, Idaho State Line

Traffic on Interstate 90 between Pines Road and the Idaho state line will slow down on Sept. 5.

That’s when work crews will begin grinding and repaving the rutted 10-mile stretch of roadway.

The project is expected to be completed by early October.

The state Department of Transportation announced that work on the $1.3 million project would begin Monday. That’s when crews from Acme Materials and Construction Co. begin “material crushing,” said DOT spokesman Al Gilson.

Gilson said that is the process in which rock is ground up and prepared for mixing with the tarlike asphalt.

That phase of the project, though, is done along the roadside and won’t cause any traffic delays.

The actual paving process will.

Workers will block off one lane at a time as they grind off the old pavement and lay down new pavement.

Gilson said commuters should drive carefully and watch for delays.

When the same stretch of I-90 was paved in 1991, the state used a softer type of asphalt that produces safer driving conditions in rainy weather. It didn’t stand up to studded tires, and that made this year’s job necessary.

This time, Gilson said, the state will use good, old-fashioned standard asphalt, called “class A dense surface.” That type of paving should buy travelers eight years of rut-free driving.

, DataTimes