| | Published April 24th, 2013
| Road Repairs Coming this Summer
| | By Sophie Braccini | | |
Public Works Director and Town Engineer Edric Kwan is ready to start spending the proceeds from Moraga's new 1 percent sales tax, which went into effect April 1, to repair roads. At the April 10 meeting of the town council he presented a contract with Harris & Associates to manage the summer road repair campaign. The program will start July 1and is likely to impact many neighborhood streets.
Harris & Associates will also take charge of an extensive public outreach campaign aimed at minimizing daily commute pain. The total budget for this 2013 campaign is $650,000, with $250,000 coming from the Measure K sales tax. A detailed list of affected roads will be available next month.
Kwan took advantage of the Rubberized Pavement Grant Program and got the town of Moraga a CalRecycle Grant for $126,000. This money has to be used for two project types - Rubberized Asphalt Concrete (RAC) and Rubberized Chip Seal. The rubberized cape seal treatment is a layer of liquid asphalt binder blended with recycled tire rubber embedded with small aggregates or chips (rubberized chip seal) and coated with a microsurfacing seal. "The microsurfacing seal provides for a smoother finish and riding surface with no loose aggregates," indicated Kwan in his presentation to the council.
Some members of the council remembered when the town used this technique on Moraga Road two years ago-the result was disastrous and the treatment had to be completely redone. "Harris & Associates have extensive experience in this technique," answered Kwan, acknowledging that impeccable timing and adequate temperatures are required to successfully apply the seal.
The other funding for the summer road repairs come from Measure J ($100,000) and the gas tax refund ($200,000). The $250,000 coming from Measure K is the non-leverage part of the sales tax's revenue stream. The council agreed at the beginning of the year to leverage about half of the revenue from the sales tax and borrow $7 million that would be repaid over a 20-year period.
"We are finalizing the list of roads," commented Kwan. "First we are checking with the utility companies to see what their plans are for work so we don't repair roads that will be excavated shortly thereafter." With the list of roads to be repaired will come the outreach plan that will include a dedicated web page where residents will be able to find detailed work schedules, road segment by road segment. "We also chose Harris & Associates because they have a lot of experience with communication in similar communities."
When the sales tax revenue is leveraged, a more structural repair campaign will start in 2014 with a preliminary budget of $2 million for that year.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA