Jasper begins street milling in Country Club Estates this week

Drivers in Country Club Estates faced slower trips and rough pavement as Jasper crews began milling Poplar Lane, Emily Street, 19th Street and 20th Street east of St. Charles Street ahead of new asphalt. The city said the streets stayed open to local traffic, but motorists should have expected delays in and around the subdivision while the work moved from milling to paving.

The Jasper Street Department worked with contractor Calcar Paving on the project, which started with removing the existing asphalt surface. Paving was to follow after milling was complete, and the city said the work would continue through the week or until the new asphalt was in place. The schedule remained weather dependent, leaving room for changes if rain or other conditions slowed the job.

Jasper’s own paving guidelines show how the city chooses this kind of work. Street Department personnel inspect all streets each early spring, then rank them by condition, estimated repair cost and the amount of reconditioning money budgeted for the year. The city also said a milled street could remain rough for as much as a week to 10 days before resurfacing if weather or contractor scheduling intervened. Even then, Jasper said it generally tried to avoid full closures and make every effort to keep streets open for residents and emergency personnel.

The work falls under the oversight of the Jasper Board of Public Works & Safety, the city’s chief administrative body for the Street Department. Street Commissioner Jeff Theising oversees the department, which can be reached at 812-482-1130, and its office is at 305 S Clay St. in Jasper. The city has said residents are typically notified through road-work signs, cones, local news and social media, and its website recently listed the Country Club Estates milling and paving notice alongside a separate St. James Street closure and spring hydrant flushing update, underscoring a busy stretch of seasonal maintenance in Jasper, a city of 16,967 in Dubois County, which had an estimated population of 44,016.