Work continues on Old Highway 81

Work on Old Highway 81 from Comanche to Duncan is on schedule according to District 3 County Commissioner Russell Morgan who is overseeing the project.

The county has completed the first chip and seal and it will add a fog seal later when work on other projects is done.

“When we get done, I think people will be proud of it,” Morgan said. “The oil companies suggested we add the fog seal. It will extend the life of the road by years.”

The fog seal will also make the road black in color.

“That will help when we have snow and ice,” Morgan said. “Once the sun comes out, it heats up the road faster and melts the snow and ice.”

He said some people have mistakenly thought they were just putting down gravel because of the loose chips on the road.

“We have the loose chips to prevent the oil from seeping through the road,” Morgan said.

The county, though, has also been keeping it in check.

“We’ve been out there at 3 a.m. sweeping up chips,” Morgan said.

The commissioner said the work has been going along about as expected even with some hiccups along the way.

“We knew what problems we were going to have,” Morgan said. “If we could work on it all day, it would get done faster, but with the heat, it can make it a mess. We try to knock off every day around 1 p.m. before it gets too hot. The other day we had to try to go to 1:30 p.m. and you could tell the difference.”

Morgan said he has some other road projects around the district to work on before they can begin the final phase on Old Highway 81. The district is having to get all the roads completed before the striping company will come in and stripe the roads.