We had a great open discussion regarding options for street repair with Jerry from Regional Pavement Company. The discussion centered around the quality of our streets, the affects of trends in gas prices on street repairs, and the options available for maintenance going forward. Jerry indicated the normal life of a road in Arizona is about 20 years (ours are just about 20 years). While working in our neighborhood in the past, and while observing our roads for bids, Jerry has noticed that our roads were cracking in the middle, where usually they crack on the side of the roads. This indicates that perhaps when the roads were paved, the foundation of the road had not been settled completely and that there may have been some structural problems during its construction. The foundation should have settled now over the years. One original homeowner indicated that when Continental Homes bought the development from the original developer and finished moving trucks and building all the homes, Continental left the roads, in their opinion, in pretty bad shape. Although asked, the developer didn't do anything.
The two options most viable for our roads as they are now are the rubberized overlay or the slurry seal. Other options are either not sufficient (slurry coat) or very expensive (take out roads completely and replace them).
The rubberized asphalt overlay is frequently done by the city of Mesa. They take a few inches off the top of the roads (they don't take out the road altogether) and put a layer of rubberized asphalt over it. Rubberized asphalt is the same stuff that is being done all over the freeways. The cost of rubberized overlay for our neighborhood would be about $150,000 right now or about $2,000 per home. The advantages are that it can be good for around 20 - 25 years or so. It also takes less regular maintenance than a regular asphalt overlay, which is done with regular asphalt. The overlay treatment is different than taking the road out all together and replacing it (that would cost about $250,000). About 2 or 3 years ago, Jerry had recommended to the board a rubberized overlay for our streets.
Another option is the slurry seal, which the board recommended this fall. It is about a 1/4" covering of the road (deeper depending on where it is), and it usually has about a 5 year life. According to Jerry the slurry is a great option as well, although it won't last as long as a rubberized overlay until it needs another slurry seal or an overlay such as the one described above. The total cost of a slurry seal right now is about $32,000, including $5,400 for a crack sealing (which he definitely recommends). Jerry says he prefers that people drive on the slurry seal as soon as possible after it's laid because it helps to pack it in.
It is important to note that the slurry seal treatment is different from the slurry coat treatment that was applied a few years ago on our roads. Jerry describes the slurry coat as a "paint job." All it is is spraying of oil and sand on the roads. He said that treatment isn't very good. The slurry seal takes adds about a 1/4" overlay to the entire road and they put rollers on it to smooth it out. In some places where there are cracks or holes, the depth of the seal is greater as it fills in the cracks.
Jerry said that timing is important for street repairs. For rubberized asphalt, May - June or October are the best months to apply. For slurry seal, he recommends October or November so that it settles before the heat comes.
Jerry brought samples of a slurry seal that was put down in a AMF bowling ally 9 years ago and was just recently replaced. Pictures of the samples are shown below. The deeper piece has the approximately 1/4" slurry seal on top of the underlying pavement. The smaller pieces are the slurry seal itself. This is what it looked like after 9 years. He said sometimes a slurry seal can last that long. To see in person, they are at the home of Steven Easthope (#61).
The meeting also focused on the price of oil and how it affects street repairs. The rubberized asphalt overlay is more material intensive operation, while the slurry seal is more labor intensive. As a result, the price of the asphalt overlay fluctuates more than the slurry seal with the price of oil. With oil prices dropping significantly in the past few weeks, they have not yet seen a decrease in prices from their suppliers. Jerry explained that in his industry and the construction industry as a whole it takes about 1 - 3 months for his costs to decrease/increase after the price of oil decreases/increases.
The board is looking at options again and will provide more information as it becomes available.
If you have any questions about the street repair discussion, please contact any member of the board or homeowners who attended the meeting tonight. We had four of the five board members and six other homeowners in attendance tonight.
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