Drivers across unincorporated Whatcom County should plan for delays starting Monday, July 20, as the county's annual chip seal program moves into its second major week of work. Whatcom County Public Works has released the road list for the week of July 20 through July 23, identifying twelve roads scheduled for chip seal treatment beginning that Monday.
Work is expected to run Monday through Thursday between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. each day. Residents and commuters are asked to use alternate routes whenever possible during those hours and to be prepared for travel delays on affected roads throughout the week.
Roads Scheduled for Chip Seal Work
The following roads are on the schedule for the week of July 20: Bowen Road, Clearbrook Road, Garrison Road, Hill Road, Hovel Road, Morgan Road, North Telegraph Road north of Morgan Road, Nooksack Road, Pangborn Road, Sumas Road, Swanson Road, and Van Buren Road north of Lindsay Road.
These roads span a wide geographic area of the county, touching rural corridors near Lynden, Sumas, Nooksack, and the Clearbrook area. The list covers a mix of through roads and local access routes, meaning the disruptions will ripple across several distinct communities simultaneously. Drivers who regularly use any of these routes for commuting, school runs, or farm access should map out alternate paths before Monday morning to avoid getting caught behind slow-moving chip seal equipment during peak hours.
Vehicles parked along any of the listed roads must be moved out of the public right-of-way before 6 a.m. on each scheduled chip seal day. Leaving a vehicle in the right-of-way during chip seal operations can damage the vehicle directly through contact with liquid asphalt or flying aggregate, and it disrupts the continuous paving pass that crews need to produce a consistent surface. Property owners along these corridors who routinely park work trucks, trailers, or farm equipment on road margins should take note of the schedule now.
It is also worth noting that North Telegraph Road north of Morgan Road and Van Buren Road north of Lindsay Road are listed with specific geographic qualifiers, meaning only portions of those roads fall within this week's treatment area. Drivers who use the southern segments of those roads as part of their regular routes may not encounter delays, but those traveling the northern sections should treat the entire stretch as affected until they can confirm conditions on the ground.
What Is Chip Sealing and Why It Matters
Chip sealing is one of the most cost-effective road maintenance techniques available to county road departments. The process involves applying a layer of liquid asphalt to an existing road surface, then immediately spreading a layer of small aggregate, or chips, on top. The chips bond with the asphalt as it cures, creating a new protective surface layer that extends the life of the road significantly at a fraction of the cost of full repaving.
To understand why chip sealing is so widely used, it helps to compare it to the alternatives. A mill-and-overlay project, which grinds off the top layer of deteriorated pavement and replaces it with fresh hot mix asphalt, costs several times more per lane mile than chip sealing. Full road reconstruction, which addresses base failures and drainage problems, costs more still. Chip sealing works best as a preventive measure applied to roads that are structurally sound but beginning to show surface oxidation, cracking, or permeability issues. Applied at the right point in a road's life cycle, it can add ten or more years of service life and push back the need for far more expensive interventions.
Whatcom County manages approximately 900 miles of county roads, an extensive network that spans everything from paved arterials near Bellingham and Ferndale to gravel farm roads in the eastern foothills. Keeping that network in serviceable condition with limited budgets requires prioritizing cost-effective treatments like chip sealing. Spreading a modest maintenance investment across dozens of roads each summer is far more fiscally responsible than allowing roads to deteriorate to the point where only reconstruction will fix them.
The county's chip seal season typically runs from early July through late summer, taking advantage of the dry weather conditions that allow liquid asphalt to cure properly. Moisture is the enemy of a good chip seal bond, which is why crews target the driest weeks of the year for this work. This year's program launched the week of July 6 and has been running on a weekly road-list schedule published by Public Works ahead of each work week, giving residents advance notice to plan around the disruptions.
Safety for Drivers, Cyclists, and Motorcyclists
Loose gravel is an unavoidable byproduct of chip sealing, and it presents real hazards for certain travelers. The county urges all drivers on freshly chip-sealed roads to slow down significantly and leave extra following distance between their vehicle and the one ahead. The chips that have not yet fully bonded to the asphalt surface act like ball bearings under tires, and they are easily launched into the air by passing vehicles. Flying rocks kicked up at highway speeds can crack windshields, chip headlights, and cause other costly damage. Reducing speed is the single most effective thing a driver can do to protect their vehicle and the vehicles around them on a freshly treated road.
Bicyclists and motorcyclists face greater risk from loose gravel than passenger vehicle drivers do. Two-wheel vehicles can lose traction on the aggregate layer before it fully bonds with the road surface, and a sudden slide on loose chip can throw a rider. The county specifically cautions cyclists and motorcyclists to use extra care on chip-sealed roads and to seriously consider alternate routes during and immediately after treatment. For cyclists who have no alternate route, the safest approach is to slow to a near-walking pace over fresh chip sections and avoid braking or turning sharply while on the loose aggregate.
Crews return to chip-sealed roads in the following week or weeks to sweep excess loose gravel and repaint lane lines. Until that sweep is complete, the loose chip layer remains a hazard for all road users. The sweeping pass also removes the aggregate that has not bonded, which is a normal part of the curing process, leaving behind the chips that have adhered firmly to the asphalt. Roads are listed on the Whatcom County Travel Planner as chip seal work is scheduled, giving residents a real-time tool to check conditions before heading out on unfamiliar routes.
All chip seal work is weather-dependent and subject to change. If conditions shift, Public Works may adjust the schedule with little notice. Updated road lists are published weekly on the county's Road Closures and Restrictions webpage. Residents with questions about the chip seal program can contact the Whatcom County Maintenance and Operations Division at 360-778-6400.
For those who want to stay ahead of road disruptions across the county this summer, the Whatcom County Public Works department publishes regular updates on road closures, restrictions, and project schedules. Signing up for county news alerts is one of the easier ways to catch these announcements before they affect your commute. You can also find background on county road infrastructure and ongoing projects on the Whatcom County government page, which has covered county capital work throughout the year.
