 | | | EBMUD installing a new pipeline. Photo Pippa Fisher | | | | | | Residents who have become used to the delays and the slow, bumpy crawl over steel trench plates on Upper Happy Valley Road can look forward to some smoother rides in the near future.
EBMUD is in the process of installing a new 12-inch pipeline along Upper Happy Valley Road. The company expects to have the work completed by mid-August, at which time the steel plates will be removed and some reconstruction work on the pavement will begin.
City Engineer Tony Coe updated the Lafayette City Council members at the council meeting July 10. He cautioned that although EBMUD will be repairing the pavement under Lafayette's most stringent repair standards - Lafayette requires restoration of the road up to four feet beyond a road cut as opposed to the county's requirement of only four inches beyond - the road surface will still require further work.
In his report Coe says that, "This measure alone would restore the pavement to be equal to, if not exceeding, the conditions prior to the pipeline work." But, he added that the utility company is responsible only for restoring the road to the same condition as before and that "we can't ask them to do more than that."
However the city is planning to surface seal the mile-long stretch of road next summer, which Coe says will restore a smooth and uniform appearance, as well as fill cracks, level low spots and repair any potholes. This work is already budgeted for under capital improvements.
Council Member Ivor Samson commented that it is important for the city to get word out to residents that further repairs are planned, even beyond EBMUD's work and that the "patchwork" effect along that stretch of road, will be addressed at that time.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA