Indiana Department of Transportation maintenance crews will chip-seal stretches of State Road 135 in Morgan, Brown and Jackson counties within the next couple weeks, limiting traffic flow to one lane at times in and out of Brown County from the north and south.

State Road 135 North Nashville to Morgantown

Beginning Monday, May 9, INDOT crews will chip seal State Road 135 — weather permitting — from the north side of Nashville at Ridgeway Drive to the closed Indian Creek iron truss bridge south of Morgantown in Morgan County.

Work along those 23 miles is expected to take until Wednesday, May 11, with additional highway sweeping on Thursday, May 12.

State Road 135 South Nashville to Freetown

Beginning Thursday, May 12, chip-seal operations will move to the State Road 135 South/State Road 46 West intersection and continue to just north of State Road 58 at Freetown in Jackson County.

The work along these 42.6 miles is scheduled to take four days, with an additional day for sweeping Tuesday, May 17.

Inclement weather would delay the schedule.

Both segments of highway will be fog-sealed later in the month.

Chip-seal coats the highway with liquid asphalt, sealing pavement cracks and protecting the roadbed from harmful ultraviolet rays. This extends service life and lowers overall maintenance costs, INDOT reported.

Small chips of limestone are used to cover the asphalt, choking it from spraying vehicles or sticking to tires.

INDOT warns drivers to “drive very slowly and with extreme caution on highways that have been freshly chip sealed to avoid vehicular damage from asphalt spray or loose aggregate.”

Drivers on the north side of Brown County are also preparing for other road work announced last week: the State Road 45 bridge closure at Lick Creek and the State Road 135 bridge closure at Indian Creek south of Morgantown.