Page County engineer outlines mid‑July repairs, M‑41 chip seal and J‑64 subgrade fix

JD King, the Page County engineer, told the Board of Supervisors the county will place a fog seal on a six‑mile stretch of E Avenue (M‑41) in mid‑July and will close the road briefly on the day of application. "I'm gonna put a false seal on M 41, which is E Avenue between 2 And 1 Fiftieth Street," King said, adding that crews will close the road at 8 a.m. and reopen it in the afternoon "based on the humidity". King said county crews and contractors are finishing riprap and site cleanup and that guardrail crews were scheduled to arrive the following day. He reported ongoing shoulder work, patching and gravel repairs in several districts and that the fiber company helped complete splicing to wrap up an unspecified project. On J‑64, King described a particularly weak section where concrete pieces "just squishes up and down." "We're gonna take some special measures and put in the French drain, outlet that to the floor shield, trying to get the water out of that," he said, noting crews previously installed a longitudinal subgrade in the same area but that water still appears to be entering the pavement subgrade. Board members asked whether the distressed J‑64 section needs more than patching; King said the county must first remove and fix the problematic subgrade before overlaying it. He also reported vehicle and equipment maintenance issues, including a sign truck the county plans to replace this fall and a fuel‑pump repair expected to finish by Thursday. The board discussed a small crack in a bridge approach where contractors used a low‑grade repair material; King said staff will inspect and follow up. Board members asked about gravel left by truck turnarounds in Essex; King confirmed crews would clean chipped rock and parking areas when site work is complete. The update included routine project closeout work and references to coordination with the Regional Planning Agency technical committee and weather‑dependent scheduling. No formal vote or directive on capital funding or contracts was recorded during the engineer update.