The new rubber seal, which was applied on Moraga Road to resurface the town's main artery, started chipping and eroding very shortly after it was laid down. This sorry state prompted Town Public Works Director Jill Mercurio to block the acceptance of the project by the Town and urge the contractor, International Surfacing Systems (ISS), to find a solution. "The product is not what we anticipated," commented a disappointed Mercurio, "and CalTrans informed us that other jurisdictions in the area have had the same problem with the slurry seal." The Director added that staff does not know at this time what caused the problem; either poor material was provided to ISS or it was not well prepared for application.
The Town's staff is actively working with the contractor to find a solution, but what that might look like has not yet been decided. "Different options include repairs, stripping off the road and resurfacing, or applying another layer of slurry seal," says Mercurio, "we need to work with the contractor and the insurance to find a solution that will satisfy the town." Work will have to wait for warmer and dryer weather. In the meantime, the contractor is coming in every couple of weeks to sweep the street to remove the aggregate that has become loose and stripped from the roadway.