City of Morro Bay
2017 PAVEMENT PRESERVATION PROJECT UPDATE
**NOTICE**
Monday March 20, 2017
Project Suspended Due to Weather Conditions
After completing the first layer of the multistep pavement preservation application, the City of Morro Bay and Pavement Coatings Company, the City’s contractor, have suspended the project until April 3rd, due to imminent rains and thunderstorms expected throughout the week. Work will resume with step 2, rubber chip seal, designed to increase surface durability and flexibility using recycled tires. The City received a $36,000 grant from CalRecycle for this portion of the project. This work is highly weather dependent and requires dry and warm conditions prior to and during application.
Since weather conditions remain unstable for this time of year, residents are encouraged to follow the City of Morro Bay website & Facebook page as well as FM 97.3, “The Rock” and the mobile app, “Nextdoor.com”, for the most current schedule modifications. Streets to receive pavement work will be posted 72 hours before work will resume. Once the weather stabilizes, staff will update the “News Flash” section of the City’s website with a revised paving schedule at http://morrobayca.gov/.
The first layer, applied last week and completed today, is fully cured but it is not unusual for foaming to occur along with a rainbow sheen during the first rain after application. This is due to additive in the emulsion that degrades naturally. Residents may also observe loose aggregates on the streets, which is a normal occurrence and does not indicate any deficiencies in the coating. Vehicles driving over the micro-surface treatment help roll and smooth the surface. While this is happening, some rocks loosen from the mixture and minor rips or tears may appear. After the micro-surface treatment is applied, crews will inspect your street, sweep up loose gravel, make necessary surface repairs, and replace any pavement markings.
Within about six months, the street that was black when first treated turns a brownish-black, and eventually ends up the familiar gray color. Slurry mixtures follow the existing road surface profile and only correct minor deficiencies in the pavement’s smoothness.
The final coat will provide a smoother finish than the first application because it uses smaller/finer aggregate material.
The methods used with this project only provide a “stop-gap” method of street preservation and slow down the degradation until additional funding is available to address the significant shortfall in street maintenance funding.
Please feel free to contact Morro Bay Public Works Department, Jarrod Whelan, jwhelan@morrobayca.gov, or (805) 772-6564, for any questions or concerns.
Thank you.