Supervisors approve contract process for chip and fog sealing

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved the advertisement for bid and subsequent award of a contract for chip and fog sealing on various county roads.

The 5-0 vote May 18 also budgets $3,407,000 for the contract which will cover 46.01 miles of base contract roads and up to 39.17 miles of additive alternatives if bid prices favor the addition of those alternative clusters.

Road crews from the county’s Department of Public Works inspect all of the county-maintained roads and prioritize them for preventative maintenance. DPW staff members also determine which roads can be protected with surface treatments and which require asphalt resurfacing. Chip and fog sealing is a surface treatment used on roads which are structurally sound; the sealing delays the need for pavement rehabilitation and repairs by prohibiting intrusion of water through the pavement into the underlaying base and sub-grade layers and thus protecting the underlying sub-grade from loss of structural strength and by protecting the pavement surface from deterioration caused by sun-caused oxidation.

A chip seal consists of a layer of small rock chips placed over a thick coat of asphaltic emulsion. The chips stick to the asphalt film and create a rougher surface, providing better traction to reduce skidding. Fog sealing uses an emulsified mixture to seal the road surface; the application must be made during warm-weather months for optical adhesion.

Plans and specifications for the sealing projects are complete, and utility companies have been notified so that they can schedule work on the affected segments before the sealing begins. The project is scheduled to begin in July and last approximately four months.

Although the sealing had not been included in the 2004-05 budget process, a road fund balance of $3.3 million allowed for the work. The additional $107,000 covers permanent road division zones paid for by the benefitting PRD zone assessments and landfill roads paid for by the environmental trust fund.

The base contract roads include 0.94 miles of East Vista Way between State Route 76 and Gopher Canyon Road, 4.76 miles of Gopher Canyon Road between Old Highway 395 and East Vista Way, 5.09 miles of South Mission Road between State Route 76 and Pepper Tree Lane, and 0.25 miles of Via Monserate between State Route 76 and 1,300 feet north of State Route 76. If funding allows for the additive alternative including those roads, sealing will also be performed on 0.57 miles of Alturas Street between Clemmens Lane and the end of the county-maintained road, 1.69 miles of Reche Road between Gird Road and Stage Coach Lane, and 1.23 miles of Winterwarm Road between Alta Vista Drive and Green Canyon Road.