# Hunterdon County loves chipseal!



## jmoryl (Sep 5, 2004)

Went for a nice ride from Princeton, up into the Sourlands, then to Lambertville, and back to Princeton. Sorry to say that Hunterdon County has applied chipseal to part of Goat Hill Rd., Valley and Pleasant Valley (plus some other roads going off to the sides) - be careful, especially around the intersections, for loose gravel. Otherwise, they have made some well tamped down chipseal roads annoying again. Also, it looks like they have warning signs for "loose gravel" on Long Hill (near Amwell) so they may be preparing to do some work there as well.


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## AlanE (Jan 22, 2002)

Application of chip & seal in Hunterdon and nearby counties is done every year, usually in late summer and early fall. I encounterd my first chip & sealed road for 2011 last Thursday - Rick Road in Alexandria Twsp - but I have to say they did a good job. They seemed to use a finer gravel than usual and it was a light application. 

BTW, chip & seal is usually done on roads maintained by the indiviual townships and very rarely done on county roads. All of the roads mentioned in the OP are township roads. Only Goat Hill is actually in Hunterdon County. Valley & Pleasant Valley are in Mercer. Long Hill is Somerset.


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## crazyc (Jun 5, 2008)

Over here in SE PA they just love chip & seal. On one of my favorite routes they
put down the tar then dropped about an inch of stone on top. Even a week later it was like riding on a loose gravel road. Then 2 miles later at the start of a down hill hill section they post a "proceeed at your own risk" sign. How the heck can you fix a road then post 
a sign like that. I won't be going that way for a while.


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## jmoryl (Sep 5, 2004)

AlanE said:


> Application of chip & seal in Hunterdon and nearby counties is done every year, usually in late summer and early fall. I encounterd my first chip & sealed road for 2011 last Thursday - Rick Road in Alexandria Twsp - but I have to say they did a good job. They seemed to use a finer gravel than usual and it was a light application.
> 
> BTW, chip & seal is usually done on roads maintained by the indiviual townships and very rarely done on county roads. All of the roads mentioned in the OP are township roads. Only Goat Hill is actually in Hunterdon County. Valley & Pleasant Valley are in Mercer. Long Hill is Somerset.


Oh, I didn't know those roads were in Mercer (I was down from Essex Co.). Maybe that explains why they chipsealed only part of Goat Hill, beginning on the downhill terminating at Valley. It was a bit hair raising to hit that gravel while coming down that descent! The gravel used isn't a particularly fine version, leading to a feeling of extra resistance and vibration. It was a pleasure to hit some smooth tarmac at the end of Pleasant Valley.


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## NJcycler (Jun 18, 2009)

roads in warren county around blairstown a bunch of roads just recently done.


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## Terex (Jan 3, 2005)

Just be thankful that they're being maintained! There are a lot of roads in the Hunterdon/Mercer area with stealth pot holes (you know, in the shadows where freeze/thaw tears them up) and generally in poor repair.


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## DaveG (Feb 4, 2004)

*I needed an excuse*



jmoryl said:


> Went for a nice ride from Princeton, up into the Sourlands, then to Lambertville, and back to Princeton. Sorry to say that Hunterdon County has applied chipseal to part of Goat Hill Rd., Valley and Pleasant Valley (plus some other roads going off to the sides) - be careful, especially around the intersections, for loose gravel. Otherwise, they have made some well tamped down chipseal roads annoying again. Also, it looks like they have warning signs for "loose gravel" on Long Hill (near Amwell) so they may be preparing to do some work there as well.


I usually suffer pretty badly on the Goat Hill Rd climb so now I have a legitimate reason to avoid it. Last year I caught caught on a freshly chipped and sealed road in that area and the tar from it ruined my RBR jersey and required an extensive bike cleaining


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## jmoryl (Sep 5, 2004)

Terex said:


> Just be thankful that they're being maintained! There are a lot of roads in the Hunterdon/Mercer area with stealth pot holes (you know, in the shadows where freeze/thaw tears them up) and generally in poor repair.


I don't totally agree. Going up Long Hill I was thinking this would be hell if there was a lot of loose gravel. Right now it is a fairly smooth old chipseal surface where the rocks have melted into the tar without many potholes. And Pleasant Valley had some weird ridge like features, despite the recent work.


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## Terex (Jan 3, 2005)

jmoryl said:


> I don't totally agree. Going up Long Hill I was thinking this would be hell if there was a lot of loose gravel. Right now it is a fairly smooth old chipseal surface where the rocks have melted into the tar without many potholes. And Pleasant Valley had some weird ridge like features, despite the recent work.


Hollow, and numerous other roads in the Sourlands are terrible. Long Hill is in a good part of its paving cycle, and is mostly unshaded, straight and has a good base.

Hollow is a gentle slope, and used by many cyclists to get up or over the Sourlands. It is also highly shaded and has many blind curves. A couple of weeks ago I found a cyclist staggering around next to the road after doing a face plant after hitting a deep pothole in the shade. I stayed with him until the meat wagon backboarded him and carted him off.

They spent about a year working on the steep part of Spring Hill drainage and surfacing, so it's pretty good right now. They spent about a year working on 518 near Hollow (drainage, utilities, stoplight, etc.) and as a result, you've got about a 1/2 mile, really nice, vanishing bike lane with borders of jagged stone.

Whoever designs bike lanes bordered with Belgian bloc set at a 90 degree angle, or a field of death stones, as on 518, should be shot.


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## jgrabowmst (Jun 22, 2011)

After all the rain around here in Morristown, parts of 202 and even way out into chatham are littered with gravel from driveways and the shoulders.

Some paving has been done all over this area, but it's not much better than when they started.

I would sat Long Hill Rd in New Vernon needs a serious re-paving going up the hill towards the great swamp...every time I ride up that hill i feel like somethings going to give....even in my car...


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## AlanE (Jan 22, 2002)

Rode Long Hill this morning, climbing up from Wertsville Rd (Terex- are you in town? - we miss you) and signs were posted indicating fresh chip & seal, but they had not gotten to it yet. Going down the southern section of the road was scary. Most of the road surface was smooth tar and was still wet from yesterday's rain. We went slow.

Oh yeah, slightly off topic - Long Hill is in Somerset County. Chip & Seal campaign in Huntedon hasn't gotten underway in earnest yet. Maybe in time for next week's GF.


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## Terex (Jan 3, 2005)

AlanE said:


> Rode Long Hill this morning, climbing up from Wertsville Rd (Terex- are you in town? - we miss you) and signs were posted indicating fresh chip & seal, but they had not gotten to it yet. Going down the southern section of the road was scary. Most of the road surface was smooth tar and was still wet from yesterday's rain. We went slow.
> 
> Oh yeah, slightly off topic - Long Hill is in Somerset County. Chip & Seal campaign in Huntedon hasn't gotten underway in earnest yet. Maybe in time for next week's GF.


Back in town Saturday for a couple of weeks. Will be in touch for rides, but I'm in crap shape. Have had cold for almost two weeks now and haven't been doing anything healthy.

Bike night at the new brew pub in Taos was cool. Wish I was 25 again...or even 55, for that matter.

By the way, what happened to the beer emoticon? This place is strange...


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