Motorists should expect changes on Bowie streets as road crews are scheduled to begin work this month and throughout the summer.

Eleven miles of the more than 180 total miles of city-owned roads will be undergoing repair and maintenence work starting this month and continuing through the summer. The work may result in altered traffic patterns as workers tear up pavement and lay down new asphalt, city officials said.

The roughly $1.5 million worth of work is part of an ongoing road maintenance program that will hit around 11 miles of roadway each year, said James Henrikson, Bowie’s director of public works.

In general, the work won’t close roadways around the city but may result in temporary changes to traffic flow, said John Gardner, assistant supervisor for the streets department who helps determine which roads need repair each year.

The resurfacing should remove cracks and other breaks in the roads surface, such as the cuts made by utility companies as they work on roads, Henrikson said. Resurfacing the road mainly aims to prevent water from rain or other sources from seeping into cracks in the roads.

“We want to keep the water from getting down into the road,” he said. “When that gets in there and freezes in the winter, it become potholes in the spring.”

The city has long tried to rehabilitate about 10 percent of the city’s roadways each year, said Bowie Mayor G. Frederick Robinson.

“This is part of our normal maintenence to keep them solid and functional,” Robinson said.

When the work commences will depend on weather conditions, Henrikson said. At the very latest, the work should start before July 25 and run no later than Nov. 15, Henrikson said.

Thoroughfares such as Belair Drive and Stonybrook Drive demand repairs more often than many neighborhood roads, Gardner said.

“The main streets with the heavier traffic wear out faster than other streets,” Gardner said. “Any courts, those don’t get paved as often as the main streets because they don’t get trafficked as often.”

amccombs@gazette.net