The 5-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) that began on November 15, 2016, is currently in its second year of implementation and at least 33 streets were scheduled to be improved by applying a slurry seal or by being ground and paved beginning on July 23, 2018, and is scheduled to be completed by August 17, 2018, according to the City of Grand Terrace.
The CIP was created after Public Works Director Yanni Demitri took an Interwest Consulting pavement management index study, which included inspecting all public Grand Terrace streets and street frontages and giving each city street a rating based on street condition, and prepared a 5-year paving plan that would improve and repair damaged and poor-conditioned streets in Grand Terrace.
During a Grand Terrace City Council Regular Meeting on April 24, 2018, the council approved a Notice of Completion for the work completed during the first year, 2016-17, of the CIP.
The council approved that their contractor, Pavement Coatings, concluded their work of professional maintenance services, which included curb and gutter repair, removal and replacement of striping and slurry seal of 79 streets and two street segments receiving grind and overlay paving treatments.
During discussion, Council Member Bill Hussey discussed concerns brought to his attention by the public about utility companies coming in to do emergency repairs on streets that are recently slurry sealed, commenting that “I’m seeing patch-working that’s looking bad again.” When emergency repairs need to be done, Hussey asks that the patchwork blends in with the whole street.
“I know it’s a cosmetic fix, but we paid a lot for this cosmetic fix,and to have it come right back and then look bad after just a couple weeks and also you want to maintain the integrity of that road,” Hussey said.
In response, Public Works Director Alan French noted that “when they [utility companies] come into our slurry streets I tell them, when you come in to do this [an emergency repair], you need to come in and re-slurry this section of the street.” French also added that this type of situation occurred when The Gas Company had to re-slurry Preston Street due to an emergency repair they had to conduct.
Council Member Kenneth J. Henderson echoed a similar concern, “We had an emergency on my cul-de-sac and a water line was repaired and the patchwork was not satisfactory,” Henderson said.
“Corrective work has been done, it’s better than the initial attempt, but already one of the patching areas has been turned up by my neighbors’ two large trucks that go up and down the cul-de-sac, so if there's a way to work more effectively with Riverside Highland on emergencies and on specifications for the work that needs to be done once we have freshly slurry sealed or ground and did a brand new street overlay overtime,” Henderson said.
Henderson concluded his discussion by clarifying whether or not Barton Road when it came to it, would be a grind and overlay repair because he notes the drivability of the street is “poor and getting worse.”
With the current construction of the interchange on Barton Road, Henderson says that “it’s not smart to do any improvements in the near term, but it’s our main drag, our major thoroughfare.”
However, Henderson knows the positive effect a newly-paved Barton Road would bring to the City of Grand Terrace.
“I can tell you that when new investors come to town and they see that investment in infrastructure, it encourages them,” including that having a Barton Road in excellent condition would go a long way toward helping the effort to bring in new business and attract new investment to the community."
The CIP’s first-year 2016-17 grand total cost was $900,000, and the current second year cost 2017-18 is expected to be $977,132, according to CIP fiscal reports.
For more information about the CIP and future City Council meetings that discuss the CIP, please visit the Grand Terrace City website.