Supervisors authorize asphalt concrete repaving contract

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By: Joe Naiman
For The Alpine Sun
The most recent road repaving contract authorized by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors includes asphalt concrete overlay resurfacing of road segments in Alpine, Boulevard, Jacumba, and possibly Pine Valley.

By: Joe Naiman
For The Alpine Sun
The most recent road repaving contract authorized by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors includes asphalt concrete overlay resurfacing of road segments in Alpine, Boulevard, Jacumba, and possibly Pine Valley.
The authorization for the director of the county’s Department of Purchasing and Contracting to take the necessary actions to advertise a construction contract for bid and to award that contract was approved on a 4-0 Board of Supervisors vote January 11 with Greg Cox addressing California Coastal Commission matters.
“This is a way for us to make sure we take care of the investment we have in our roads,” said Supervisor Dianne Jacob. The county’s Department of Public Works maintains nearly 2,000 miles of road in unincorporated San Diego County, and road crews inspect the roads and prioritize them for preventative maintenance.  DPW utilizes a pavement management system which incorporates field review, resident and community input, and mechanical test data collection to determine which roads are most in need of resurfacing.  The structural deterioration of pavement is measured visually by assessing the degree and type of cracking, the surface deterioration, and surface defects.
“Staff did a wonderful job in deciding which roads to prioritize,” said Supervisor Kristin Gaspar.
The road maintenance program also evaluates the preferred rehabilitation strategy.  Asphalt concrete pavement overlays are used for severely degraded roads with extensive cracking or potholes, although if the road has only minor cracking and no significant surface damage a thinner layer of slurry seals may be applied to protect the road.  The Board of Supervisors authorized a slurry seal contract at the supervisors’ December 14 meeting.
The evaluation of the roads which will require asphalt concrete overlays also included whether the road needs repair below the road surface and whether rubberized asphalt concrete should be used for the top layer.  Although rubberized asphalt concrete whose rubber component utilizes recycled tires is approximately ten percent more expensive than ordinary asphaltic concrete, the rubberized surface has proven to be more durable than normal asphalt concrete.  Studies in California and Arizona have determined that overall costs for a lifecycle of 20 to 30 years are lower with rubberized asphalt concrete.  Rubberized asphalt concrete also has sound reduction benefits.  Over the long term rubberized asphalt concrete reduces noise by four to six decibels, so the benefit is maximized on roads with high traffic volumes which are close to residential streets.
“This is really a pretty good standard.  These are busy roads,” said Supervisor Ron Roberts.
The contract is structured to include a base bid consisting of the minimum number of locations and five additive alternatives, or clusters of locations which can be added to the contract if funding permits.  The 25 road segments in the base bid total 14.86 miles and include the resurfacing of 1.35 miles of Alpine Heights Road in
Alpine, 0.55 miles of Jewel Valley Road in Boulevard, 0.25 miles of Heber Street in Jacumba, 0.21 miles of Denova Drive in Alpine, and 0.09 miles of Campo Street in Jacumba.
The 24 roads in the additive alternatives bring the total to 21.00 miles.  The first additive alternative would repave 0.72 miles of Fury Lane in Rancho San Diego.  If funding permits the second additive alternative, 1.00 miles of Sunrise Highway in Pine Valley would be repaved along with 0.57 miles of Pine Hills Road in Julian.
“There’s a lot of miles of overlay here,” Roberts said.
“It’s an improvement,” said Supervisor Bill Horn.  “It’s a lot safer and a lot more quiet.”
The estimated cost of the contract, including contingencies and administrative expenses, is $9,890,616.  The San Diego Gas & Electric franchise fee the utility pays for its use of public roadway will cover $5,000,000 of that expense, DPW’s Road Fund will provide $3,515,000, Highway User Tax Account revenue derived from the sales tax on gasoline will be used for $1,000,000 of the cost, a fund balance in the county’s Land Use and Environment Group which includes DPW will account for $223,116, and the half-cent TransNet sales tax for transportation will fund $152,000 of the project.
All of the work will take place within existing county right-of-way, so no acquisition will be needed.  Utility companies have been notified so that trenching work on affected roadway segments can be scheduled before the roads are resurfaced.  The appropriate community planning and sponsor groups were also notified.
The asphalt concrete repaving on a countywide basis is scheduled to begin in spring 2017 and be complete by December 2017.  Traffic control measures will be implemented during the construction to limit impacts to community members and other travelers.

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