By Jason Clay Jansky

Patches of the seal coating project on U.S. Highway 181 in Karnes County have been wearing away a year after construction, but the Texas Department of Transportation maintains the roads still are safe to drive on.

The project put down a layer of asphalt and rock on the highway through Karnes County about a year ago and now patches of the rock are coming up. TXDOT has already closed out the contracts, so the contractor isn’t required to come back in and do any patching.

"Unfortunately we had closed that contract out and we had started getting some shelling here on these roadways — the rock was turning loose mainly in the intersections," TxDOT Transportation Engineer Ralph Condra said. "Primarily we get it where the twisting of the tires dislodges it. We had already released the contractor when that began to occur."

The same contractor is doing this year’s seal coating projects in Karnes County, as well, and Condra said they were awarded the project because they came in with the lowest bid.

"What happened on this roadway wasn’t near serious enough that we could (not allow) them to bid future contracts," he said. "This contractor that’s done this work, they’ve been low bid on almost all of our seal coats for probably six or seven years. They’ve done a successful job all the way up until last year — and the majority of what they did last year was fine, it just happened on the higher-volume traffic and it happened unfortunately here in (Karnes) County."

By and large TxDOT is satisfied with the road work done not just in Karnes, but in other counties, too.

As for why roads here are worse off than those elsewhere, it’s anyone’s guess, according to Condra.

"There could be a number of reasons. It’s half science and half art putting this stuff down," he said. "You can get some climate conditions that will affect it. It’s unfortunate that sometimes it happens after the contract has been concluded."

For now, TXDOT does have plans to repair patches at intersections that have lost enough gravel that traction is a concern.

The highways and byways in Karnes County largely are still safe to drive on, though, according to TXDOT.

"The seal coat itself largely, for the most part, is still doing what it’s supposed to do. The purpose of the seal coat is to seal off the cracks with that asphalt film, to basically waterproof it. The rock is there to provide traction (and) keep the tires separated from that asphalt film," Condra explained.

Some rock also has been separating from the asphalt in small areas along the Business 181 access just outside the Kenedy city limits. The area was seal coated this year and Contra said TxDOT will keep an eye on all the roadwork to make sure it is done satisfactorily.