Chip seal aggregate evaluation and successful roads preservation

•Aggregate testing is essential to ensure chip seal success.•Chip seal application improved roadways’ microtexture and macrotexture properties.•Chip seal application reduced pavement distresses, and effectively preserved them from further cracking and deterioration. The Federal Highway Administration’s Every Day Counts (EDC) initiative focuses on saving time, resources and money. EDC has brought infrastructure preservation to the forefront of many conversations. Chip seals are a cost-effective pavement preservation strategy, and continued studies verifying their performance benefits continue to be in high demand as agencies struggle to fund preservation programs. This study documents the effectiveness of chip seals when good materials, good construction and good agency oversight work together. Chips seals extend the service life of pavements an average of 5–6 years. This study gathers two years of field performance data (June 2014–June 2016) from chip seal projects constructed in Oregon. The data includes laboratory and field-testing to assess chip seal materials used in construction and tracks the performance of the chip seal pavements, both emulsified asphalts and hot-applied asphalts. Findings show that chip seals constructed with good quality materials enhance the surface texture properties and reduce the appearance of distresses over the two-year monitoring period for most sections.