GRIFFITH | The town has signed a contract to resurface Ridge Road from Cline to Colfax avenues this summer.

The Town Council has contracted Gallagher Asphalt Corp. of Thornton for the work.

It has been about 15 years since Ridge was reconstructed down to its 18-inch bottom layer, Public Works Director Rick Konopasek said.

Instead of tearing out the entire road structure this time, the council will use a method to rehabilitate the under layers and replace only the actual driving surface.

It is known as “Hot in Place Recycling,” said Patrick Faster, Gallagher national sales director.

Faster said his firm does work for the city of Chicago and many other locations in the United States.

Depending on local asphalt costs, the recycling technique can save from 10 percent to 40 percent.

Once the top layer of roadway is removed, Gallagher can save the stone in the lower layers, Faster said, noting that an aging road structure typically loses its oil content while the stone is still good.

“We reuse what you have,” he said. “The aggregate sat in the ground for 800,000 years. We think it’s (certainly) good for another 10.”

The under layers are slowly reheated to about 300 degrees, then a liquid rejuvenating agent is introduced.

The method does one lane at a time, which means the road does not have to be closed, Faster said.

The removal and replacement of the driving surface will be done by Walsh & Kelly Inc. of Griffith.

An unofficial timeline has preliminary work beginning on Monday, with the whole project taking about a month.

“The town is anticipating Ridge Road to be fully complete no later than Aug. 14,” Konopasek said.

Konopasek noted that 45th Street could be another candidate for the technique after Ridge is done.

In the meantime, the townwide road renovation project continues with all paving complete north of Ridge, Konopasek said.

Walsh & Kelly is now north of the Cady Marsh Ditch, between Broad Street and Colfax.

Next, work will move south of the ditch to the areas west of Broad, east of the railroad tracks and north of 45th.

This work should be done by the end of September, Konopasek said, and work will start south of Main Street.

“It is anticipated to have the entire town’s scheduled paving completed by the middle of October,” Konopasek said of the project that began last year.