The Indiana Department of Transportation officials hope to begin chip-seal operations on State Road 135 in Bloomington this week. That work has been pushed back due to the wet weather.

Harry Maginity, INDOT spokesman, says that crews are being scheduled to chip-seal twelve miles of State Road 135 from Nashville to Morgantown this Thursday, as well as next Monday and Tuesday. He says that this project should begin in the northbound lane of State Road 135, one mile north of State Road 46 in Brown County, and continue to the Indian Creek bridge, about a third of a mile south of State Road 252 in Morgan County.

Maginity says that the tentative schedule calls for a second round of chip-sealing on State Road 135 between State Road 46 at Nashville and State Road 58 at Freetown. He explains that the 42.6 lane miles in Brown and Jackson Counties will require four days for surface treatment.

INDOT says that chip-seal applications coat the highway with liquid asphalt, which seals pavement cracks and protects the roadbed from harmful ultraviolet rays. Officials say that this extends service life and lowers overall maintenance costs.

INDOT stresses that this work is dependent on the weather.