This is an updated 2021 post that was first published in 2019.

Stoney Creek residents should expect the 2024 roadway surface treatment to begin soon. Weather permitting, equipment will arrive during the week of July 8-12, and work will begin soon after that. A map of the roads scheduled for treatment in 2024 can be found HERE.

This type of work on Wintergreen's roads is now on a 5-year cycle, but a hard winter with a lot of snow plowed can change this. 

Why so much loose gravel?
The surface treatment process of tar & gravel requires the loose stone to remain on the road for two weeks. Over the 14 days, the stone penetrates the “asphalt emulsion” and allows the mixture to bond fully.  After two weeks, the new surface will be swept.

Better results with less disruption and a much more attractive appearance are the main benefits of this approach to road surface maintenance that started in 2019.

"This was a major change from what our property owners have seen for the last 40 years," says Mitchell Barker, Wintergreen Property Owners Association’s director of infrastructure and roads. “No more patchwork roads.”

Having the entire street surface treated is now the standard at Wintergreen. The long tradition of putting a patchwork of tar and gravel on every street during the summer is no longer.

"The new surface should last for four years or more before we have to come back and resurface," Barker told property owners when the project started in 2019, adding that all of Wintergreen’s roads get serious stress because of WPOA's aggressive snowplowing.

The paving work will be done by Whitehurst Paving, a roads contractor whose primary customers are state highway departments.

The appearance of the streets will be "a much more uniform look and surface condition," said Barker in 2019. The roads will not be smooth asphalt, but Barker says there much less loose gravel than before.

It's not cheap. Barker could not share exact costs due to using competitive contracts, but he said the average cost could be over $25,000 per mile of road.

The new process, called "prime and double seal," follows proven Virginia Department of Transportation specifications. It typically takes two days.

Barker explains that the surface is first cleaned with a "power broom," then carefully sprayed with an asphalt emulsion (a tar-like material) at an “exact application rate.” At the same time, a fine layer of aggregate gravel is put down, and the surface is rolled to embed the aggregate into the asphalt emulsion.

"Then they wait a day, and go back to the road to repeat the process of spraying the asphalt emulsion and aggregate," said Barker. The last step is sweeping off of any excess aggregate.

When asked if all of this would result in direct savings in the WPOA budget, Barker says maybe, but the primary goal is to improve the condition and appearance of the roads.

Long term, some cost savings are a possibility. "For years we have marked 52 miles of roads for patchwork, by hand. It takes two techs month of Sundays. The patching dealt with problem areas, but added very little to the overall road base," Barker offered. "There is no doubt this will eventually provide a better feel driving our streets as well as a better look."