Klamath County, like many other Southern Oregon counties, has been experiencing drastic decreases in their roadway budget, making the development of pavement preservation programs and techniques of utmost importance. In the early part of September 2013, Klamath County decided to try using an emulsified chip seal mix to directly fill the wheel ruts, having an average depth of 19.1 mm (¾ inch), on an approximately 0.8 km (0.5 mile) section (spanning from South 6th Street to Leland Drive) of Homedale Road in Klamath Falls, OR, in hopes of prolonging the overall pavement life. This new method, denoted the “Klamath County Wheel Path Chip Seal Approach” within this report, was tested over a six-month period, between September 6, 2013 and February 24, 2014 at four different test strip locations that spanned across the roadway width from curb to curb. This testing showed a maximum observed change in elevation (re-rutting depth) of 12 mm (0.47 inch).
