While extremely busy air conditioning service men and construction crews no doubt had it bad during Wednesday's and Thursday's high temperatures, perhaps the paving work being done on city streets might have constituted the hottest job of all. On Thursday, crews from Cherokee Landscaping did re-paving work on Brookside Drive, Gardner Road and an unnamed alley in the city. With sweat beading on his brow, Mike Teague pulled out an infrared temperature gauge and was far from surprised when a reading flashed on the screen.

Even before re-paving work began on Gardner Road on Thursday, the road temperature was reading in excess of 125 degrees and Teague, the City of Gaffney’s director of public works, knew the temperatures were only going to keep climbing as the afternoon wore on and a fresh layer of black asphalt was laid down.

“It’ll be over 150 degrees (on the road) this afternoon,” he said.

Scheduled long before this week’s heat wave, repaving projects in the city wouldn’t and couldn’t slow down or come to a halt just because of the temperatures.

“It was tough yesterday,” admitted J.D. Brown, owner of Cherokee Landscaping, which is doing the repaving work for the city. But, he added, you just have to push through it.

“If you start in the morning and stay with it, it’s a whole lot better,” Brown said.

To beat the heat, his workers sought the shade of a tree whenever there was a minute or two of down time.

Air temperatures are one thing. Fresh asphalt temperatures are another.

Once again using his infrared temperature gauge, Teague took a reading on the fresh asphalt that was being fed into the paving equipment. Straight off the dump truck, the asphalt measured anywhere from 239 to in excess of 270 degrees and the heat coming off of it was like standing next to an oven.

“We drink a lot of Gatorade,” Brown said when asked how he and his crews beat the heat. “It helps a whole lot.”

As of Thursday afternoon, area temperatures officially were recorded as high as 99 degrees, though NWS forecasters called for 101.

On Wednesday, when temperatures climbed to 98 degrees, the pavers worked on Bo Lane and Browning Road. They started Thursday morning on Brookside Drive and then made their way to Gardner Road and an adjacent unnamed alley, just in time for the hottest part of the day.

“We still have three more state roads to do,” Teague said. But those won’t be done for another two weeks or so.

Asked if he thought the weather might be any better then, Teague, who has worked on road projects for many years now, replied from experience, “No it won’t. Trust me.”

While work crews brought plenty of liquids of their own, Teague noted many residents in the areas being paved have been really gracious, offering the work crews water and other kinds of drinks.