CITY COUNCIL STRESSED NEED TO FIND BETTER WAY TO ADDRESS STREET CHALLENGES
SUISUN CITY — An innovative $1.2 million solution to the daunting challenge of repairing and preserving City streets will come before the City Council on Tuesday after staff was directed to find a better way to repair failing streets more quickly.
Public Works Director Fernando Bravo recommends the City start using a pavement system that is about a tenth of the cost of traditional asphalt treatments, while at the same time diverting thousands of waste tires from California’s waste stream.
The process, known as Asphalt Rubber Cape Seal, or ARCS, can add 10 to 15 years of life to severely distressed streets, even those street segments with lots of alligator cracks, at a cost much lower than traditional grind and overlay methods for a similar road life.
Rather than relying on a layer of asphalt that dries and cracks over time, the ARCS system uses a liquid binder made from recycled tires mixed with asphalt aggregate to create a durable and waterproof but flexible road surface that resists degradation over the long run.
Working in partnership with the Suisun-Solano Water Agency, the City plans to spend $1.16 million to resurface 34 of the City’s worst street segments.
To illustrate the ARCS system’s cost effectiveness, consider this example:
- Using traditional methods, the City could grind down the surface of 4 street segments and apply a 2-inch asphalt overlay – improving about 120,903-square-feet for roadway – for about $824,000.
- For the same money, the City can resurface 22 of the City’s worst street segments – improving about 1.06 million square-feet of roadway – using the ARCS system.
“This technology allows us to use the money we have to seriously upgrade our worst streets very quickly,” City Manager Suzanne Bragdon said. “It also allows us to accelerate the reconstruction of our streets in the most desperate need. Plus, we help address one of California’s toughest environmental problems: disposal of discarded vehicle tires.”
The aggressive expansion of the street repaving program follows the 70 street segments slurry sealed in 2007, as were the more comprehensive repairs to Chipman Lane and Suisun Street.
The ARCS process also will enable the City and the Suisun-Solano Water Agency to quadruple the street segments upgraded through their unique water service upgrade partnership. Suisun City and SSWA have coordinated street resurfacing with the upgraded water service connections being installed across the City. As SSWA replaced aging service mains, the City would resurface the roadway at thesame time to maximize the benefit of each agency’s expenditures.
The City and SSWA had planned to resurface 3 street segments and replace 63 water services this year through this partnership. Using ARCS, the City and SSWA will be able to resurface 12 street segments and replace 200 water services for the same cost.
Public Works plans an aggressive road resurfacing program this summer targeting most of the streets with a Pavement Condition Index rating of 0-25, the lowest possible on the scale. Those streets include segments of:
- Bald Pate Drive
- Barrows Drive
- Bering Way
- Canary Drive
- Gadwall Drive
- Golden Eye Way
- Green Wing Drive
- Humphrey Drive
- Javan Way
- Klamath Way
- Lassen Avenue
- Marcia Lane
- Pelican Way
- Ringneck Lane
- Scaup Lane
- Scoter Way
- Shoveller Drive
- Spring Street
- Tree Duck Way
- Wigeon Way
- Wesley Avenue
- Worley Road
The streets to benefit from the City/SSWA partnership include:
- Coral Lane
- Greylag Drive
- Hummingbird Lane
- Nadel Drive
- Pheasant Drive
- Pochard Way
- Red Head Lane
- Rio Verde
- Ruddy Lane
- Seagull Drive
- Whooper Way
- Woodlark Drive
The Suisun City Council will consider approving the staff recommendation at its regular meeting on Tuesday, March 18.
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