Summer road work begins

It's that time of year again: road construction.

Public Works Director, Mark Westenskow outlined the city road work for the summer. Downtown has already begun the slurry seal project. They have divided up the streets into an every other one method to leave access open to businesses and housing.

"Slurry seal is a pavement preservation technique that is used to supplement existing asphalt roads that are in decent shape to extend their useful life," Westenskow said. "It is ideally placed on a 5-7 year cycle, and augments the asphalt binder that degrades over time due to weather exposure." 

The city has used this process for years and while he acknowledge's it's not a perfect fix it does help to keep the streets looking better longer to save money.

"We have used slurry seals on city streets for several years, and have found that it is a cost-effective treatment for some streets as part of a preventative maintenance program," Westenskow said. "Slurry seal costs the city about $2 per square yard applied versus about $30 per square yard for asphalt pavement, so we try to use it where we can to improve pavement life and delay full rebuilds."

While the streets downtown are getting a seal treatment, a few other streets around the city are getting a complete rebuild.

"We recently received bids for the full rebuild of Knotty Pine Street and Evans Street from Uinta to Wilkes," Westenskow said. "The Evans portion should begin in the next few weeks.  Those segments are funded by the sixth penny."

The sixth-penny project is also funding the North 5th East construction project, which is happening now.

Towards the end of summer, Nolan Street will have a water main replaced.

"We appreciate everyone's patience during these street projects," Westenskow said. "We know they can be inconvenient, but the end product is worth it to have improved streets."