The City of Boerne will begin improvements to several streets across town starting in April and lasting into the summer of 2026.
The City maintains 164 miles of roadway and utilizes several types of maintenance to extend the life of the road surface and improve drivability.
Led by the Engineering and Mobility Department, the work will include chip-sealing, crack-sealing, and patching across dozens of streets.
The bulk of the work will be done in the summer months when traffic volumes are lower. The City does not plan to close streets during work, but traffic may be held for a few minutes at certain times with flaggers on hand to direct traffic.
What is Chip-Sealing?
Chip-seal is a preventative maintenance treatment that helps seal pavement from water intrusion and slow down deterioration such as cracking and potholes.
The City of Boerne began utilizing a new type of chip-seal several years ago. The rocks used in the process are smaller than what were used in previous years to allow for a smoother and quieter driving surface, according to Engineering and Mobility Director Jeff Carroll. It also reduces the risk of a rock chipping a car’s windshield or paint.
Drivers can travel on roads that have been chip-sealed immediately, but it is important to drive slowly and attempt to avoid braking sharply within the first few hours. This time allows the chips to better adhere to the oil.
Within a few days of the application process, the City will deploy a street sweeper to the area and pick up any of the loose rock.
By utilizing chip-seal, the City can extend the life of a road in the most cost-effective way possible. It costs much less than removing pavement and replacing with new asphalt, reducing the cost to taxpayers by about 80 percent.
Various factors, including weather, can delay or postpone when a street is chip-sealed.
What is Crack-Sealing?
Crack-sealing is what many drivers might notice as the “black, squiggly lines” applied to streets. It helps to stop moisture from damaging the base layer and is a cost-effective and preventive maintenance measure to slow down deterioration.
The process includes cleaning cracks of debris, applying hot rubberized sealant, and sometimes applying a protective layer.
Benefits of Crack- And Chip-Sealing
What is Patching?
The City will also be working with a contractor to patch other roads with higher travel volumes. These repairs focus on weakened sections of asphalt that cannot be repaired by chip-sealing.
In patching, crews will remove the damaged section of roadway and replace it with new asphalt, providing a more structural fix to compromised pavement areas.
2026 Road Maintenance Schedule
Below are the roads the City of Boerne plans to service this spring and summer. The roads are not necessarily listed in the order in which they will be worked on.
The City continues to identify additional streets that will be improved as the summer progresses.
