Supervisor Jim Comstock has organized the meeting with Caltrans' District 1 Director Charlie Fielder and his staff, which will take place from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12, at the Calpine Visitor Center, 15500 Central Park Road, Middletown.
“We want to get Caltrans' attention,” Comstock said. “We just weren't getting any answers that fit right.”
This summer, Caltrans completed two rubberized chip seal projects, one along 12 miles of Highway 29 from the Lake/Napa County lines to the Coyote Creek Bridge, and the second along 8.5 miles on Highway 175 from Cobb to Middletown, as Lake County News has reported. Pavement striping was just finished on the Highway 29 portion last Friday.
Caltrans reported that the total combined cost of the two projects – completed by International Surfacing Systems of West Sacramento – was about $2.1 million.
Caltrans reported that the rubberized chip seal strategy was intended to seal and preserve the existing pavement while providing increased winter traction and a good binding surface for future paving projects, Frisbie explained.
The chip seals in Lake County were the first in the district to use half-inch aggregate rather than the more common 3/8-inch aggregate, Caltrans said.
The agency said such chip seals allow the treatment of three times more pavement than an asphalt thin blanket overlay could. Caltrans said it's also a green technology, using 40,000 recycled tires just for the Lake County projects alone.
But south county residents are none too pleased with the outcome of the projects, said Comstock.
He took a road trip around the county with Fielder and some of his staff to look at the work, and Comstock said Fielder agreed that there were issues.
Comstock said several years ago Caltrans did an open grade asphalt project, which provided a good road surface but failed sooner than expected.
“There are areas where it's completely worn through,” said Comstock.
However, he was told a grinder was broken which resulted in no asphalt grinding to prepare the road surface before the chip seal projects began. Instead the contractor put the chip seal over the areas where the pavement was worn through.
That, coupled with the larger aggregate, provided what Comstock said is not an ideal driving surface.
“It is dangerous to drive on. It does throw you around a little bit,” he said, adding that it's worse if you're pulling a trailer.
Comstock said the chip sealed was put over brand new pavement done in front of the Hidden Valley Lake and Twin Pine Casino entrances.
“We went from some bad to some good to all bad,” he said.
Frisbie said Caltrans has received complaints about the road work. He said the larger, half-inch rock isn't the kind of finish that Caltrans wants to be on the road for a long time, and they plan to repave.
He said people have expressed concern that the projects have been a waste of money. However, he said the chip seal does a good job of sealing little cracks in the pavement and waterproofing it. It also will help new asphalt bind to the old. Because of that, they often will put down a chip seal and then immediately pave over it.
Repaving a portion of Highway 175 – which also will include a section of the highway at Highway 101 in Mendocino County and another section of Highway 175 bounded by Highway 29 – won't take place until next summer's construction season, he said.
The repaving on Highway 29, however, is probably two or three years down the road, Frisbie said.
Comstock said Fielder indicated to him that they're making an effort to get funds to redo the highway sooner.
Comstock said people are not happy.
“Two to three years, that's just not acceptable,” he said.
Comstock pointed out that Caltrans was able to quickly get funds to repave an eight-mile portion of Highway 29 outside of Lakeport earlier this year.
Middletown businesswoman Linda Diehl-Darms started a petition for area residents to express their concern, said Comstock.
They've collected more than 1,000 signatures, with the petitions gathered up around Sept. 15, he said.
“I told the folks in Middletown I would hand deliver them to Caltrans,” Comstock said of the petitions.
He said he plans to hand the petitions over to Caltrans on Tuesday.
If anyone hasn't signed the petition and wants to, Comstock said he'll make sure they get the chance at the Tuesday meeting.
He said Caltrans will present information on the projects and what they're going to do about the situation. Community members also will have the chance to ask questions.
Comstock said Middletown's streets are county maintained roads that until recently were in “atrocious” shape, and he's worked with county Road Superintendent Steve Stangland and Public Works Director Brent Siemer to address the problem.
The county put $50,000 for asphalt toward a paving project, and county workers assisted by inmate laborers did the work. Comstock said they've been able to get many of the town's streets repaved that way.
“They're way better than the highway now, which isn't much of a standard to go by,” he said.
Comstock said the Caltrans chip seal projects hadn't looked good to him, even before they started. “The finished product seems to have borne out my concerns.”
All state jobs are supposed to have an inspector on site during such projects, and Comstock wondered why the chip seal work continued.
“We haven't gotten an answer to that yet,” he said.
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