Tag:surface=chipseal
 surface = chipseal
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Describes the surface of a feature as chipseal - fine gravel pressed into substrate such as tar. 
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| Group: properties |
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| Status: in use |
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Roads may be be paved in an inexpensive manner called chipsealing. It is an upgrade from an unpaved, graded road but is not as smooth as asphalt concrete. Such roads are tagged as surface=chipseal or surface=asphalt (far more often used).
Chipsealing is cheaper than resurfacing an asphalt concrete (surface=asphalt) or a Portland cement concrete pavement (surface=concrete), but not as long-lasting and less smooth.
Chipseals are constructed by evenly distributing a thin base of hot tar, bitumen or asphalt onto an existing surface and then embedding finely graded aggregate into it. The aggregate is evenly distributed over the hot seal spray, then rolled into the bitumen using heavy rubber tired rollers creating a paved surface. A chip-seal-surfaced pavement can optionally be sealed with a top layer, which is referred to as a fog seal or enrichment.
Chipsealing can also be used to rejuvenate existing asphalt roads. This process is commonly referred to as asphalt surface treatment and adds a new layer on top of the existing asphalt road, improving its performance and extending its lifetime. After a road has undergone such surface treatment, surface=asphalt can be replaced with surface=chipseal. However, if porous asphalt gets surface treatment that retains its porous nature, its original tagging is unchanged by the treatment (surface=asphalt with asphalt:type=porous or asphalt:type=porous:double).
In some cases chipseal surface is not distinguishable from asphalt concrete surface. In such case it is fine to tag it as surface=asphalt. It is possible that the road operator publishes information about road surfaces that can help you distinguish between chipseal and asphalt.
Note that this tag is rarely used and relatively unknown, most of chipseal surfaces is likely tagged surface=asphalt.
Such surface treatment is popular for example in many rural counties of USA.
Gallery
A chipseal road near Kempton, Indiana in the United States
A chipseal road in the United Kingdom
Advisory sign to alert people that not all gravel have been pressed into the surface
Close-up view
External links
- Chipseal on Wikipedia
- talk-us mailing list thread