Yuma plans $15M in road projects

Yuma is looking at spending about $14-15 million in road construction projects over the next few years, according to a recent presentation on current and future city road projects.

Public Works Director Joel Olea and City Engineer Jeff Kramer presented the information to the city council during a work session last month.

However, before the discussion, Mayor Doug Nich-

olls recused himself, citing an “overabundance of caution” due to a potential conflict of interest, and turned the meeting over to Deputy Mayor Gary Knight.

The city’s roadway network consists of 367 centerline miles, 240 of which are local roads (two lanes of traffic in residential subdivisions), 85 collectors (three lanes, such as Avenue C) and 42 major roads (five lanes, such as 4th Avenue).

The city is currently undergoing a pavement assessment; it contracted with a third party to conduct it.

“You may have seen the van traveling our roadways (for about two weeks) collecting data, specifically pavement distresses,” Olea noted.

The consultant will present its findings in a GIS map and provide a presentation to the council, probably during the second meeting in February.

Olea explained the process the city uses to maintain and rehabilitate roads. Crews apply sealants to roads within the first 10 years of pavement life, usually in the fifth and 10th years.

“As the road gets older (and) starts getting to the age of 15 years, it is a candidate for something a little bit heavier in terms of a slurry or even a microseal,” Olea said.

“Now I say ‘candidate’ simply because if the road hits 15 years, it doesn’t necessarily mean that a slurry seal is required. It’s all about applying that right treatment at the right time.”

As the pavement gets older, 20 to 25 years in age, engineers start looking at rehabilitation of the roadways using the “mill-and-fill” method, which usually requires “milling out” 1 or 2 inches of the old asphalt and replacing it with new asphalt.

When roadways reach 30 to 40 years, the city starts looking at reconstructing those roads. Those listed as “poor” and “very poor” in the Capital Improvement Program are turned over to the city engineer to determine whether they need to be rehabbed or reconstructed.

“We prefer to manage the roads at ‘fair’ and above,” Olea said.

The city has spent the last two years researching newer sealant treatments, one of those the tire rubber modified surface sealant, which replaces vital surface oils, secures loose aggregates and prevents oxidation.

The city completed 33 lane miles with this method, including 29th Street, from 4th to 8th Avenue, which was paved in 2008. The road was heavily oxidized, so it was a good candidate for the tire rubber modified surface sealant.

Another sealant used by the city this past calendar year is the polymer modified master seal, which has a two-part application process. “In other words, we had to spray it twice on the roadway,” Olea said.

“It does have an aggregate mix to it. It is temperature sensitive to the point it’s best applied when the weather is 80 to 95 degrees,” he added.

It can only be applied to local roads. “There are skid-resistant problems if you try to apply it to collector roadways and even major arterial roads,” Olea noted.

The city has completed 10 lane miles using this method, including the Picacho Village Subdivision, which was paved in 2005 and didn’t meet the criteria for a slurry seal. “But the PMM served it well.”

Another method is the slurry seal type II, which is applied to local and major roadways 15 years or older and is very flexible. “We can apply it to local roads, collector roads, major arterial roadways,” Olea explained. “It does extend the life of the pavement. It doesn’t provide structural support, but it does provide a new wearing surface and it will seal the road up and keep the moisture from penetrating to the subbase.”

This method is the most cost effective, costing $1.15 per square yard. The city completed 73 center miles with this method this past year, including 8th Avenue, from 32nd to 36th streets.

In reply to a query from Deputy Mayor Gary Knight, Olean noted that the city slurry-seals about 30 centerline miles a year, with a goal of 15 in the spring and 15 in the fall.

Answering a question from Councilman Edward Thomas, Olea said that the process begins about three months before application with a series of grinding and prepping, crack sealing and securing pavement markings. In terms of application, crews typically do a mile a day with a curing time of 6 to 8 hours.

Kramer reviewed CIP projects that have been completed and those that are in planning and design phases.

Five projects, totalling 10 lane miles, have been completed in the last year or so: 1st Avenue, 24th to 26th streets; 22nd Street, 4th Avenue to Avenue A; 24th Street, Avenues B to C; 4th Avenue and 16th Street intersection; and 8th Street, Pacific Avenue to Castle Dome Avenue.

Five projects are scheduled for “imminent” construction: 1st Avenue, Orange Avenue to 9th Street; 1st Avenue, 12th Street to 16th Street; 3rd Avenue, Orange Avenue to 14th Street; Gila Street, 1st Street to Giss Parkway; and Giss Parkway, 6th Street to Castle Dome Avenue (an Arizona Department of Transportation project).

Six projects are under design, with most of them planned for the spring and summer of 2019: 16th Street, Avenue B to C; 40th Street, Arizona Avenue to Avenue A; 4th Avenue, 32nd Street to 40th Street; Arizona Avenue, 32nd Street to 40th Street; Avenue A, 32nd Street to 36th Street; and 8th Street, Avenue C to Avenue D (Yuma County).

The exceptions are 8th Street, which is planned for construction in late spring or early summer of this year, and 4th Avenue, which the city anticipates will begin this summer.

Five projects are in the planning stage and will enter the design phase in 2020-21.

In total, the projects that have not yet been constructed will cost about $1415 million.

Following the presentation, Councilman Mike Shelton encouraged Olea and Kramer to “proactively promote (and) publicize major projects” so the citizens “who drive them, live by them, know what’s coming forward, because when people don’t know, they use a vacuum to imagine all kinds of suspicious things. So we want to calm them down and let them know help is on the way.”

Kramer said he would work with the city’s media and public affairs department “to develop a plan to make sure that we’re maximizing the information that we’re sharing.”

Councilman Edward Thomas mentioned that other Arizona cities are raising funds to fix roads through a one-cent tax. “I’m just thinking out loud here, but with a one-cent tax here locally, how far would that go locally to pave our roads or even just get them up to snuff?”

Kramer deferred to City Administration Greg Wilkinson, who said, “(A) one-cent tax would generate $20 million a year.”

“Twenty million dollars a year that we could use just for roads?” Thomas asked. “Yes,” Wilkinson said. The council then moved on to other topics.