SM street maintenance expected to cause delays
SANTA MARIA – Drivers are advised that temporary, short delays will occur on various Santa Maria streets due to the city’s annual street maintenance surface seal program beginning on Monday, Sept. 19 and continuing through mid-October. The most notable, highly traveled streets affected include Stowell, Skyway and Depot. Residential neighborhoods’ streets will also be treated, including areas north of Donovan between Blosser to Railroad, as well as residential streets south of Main between Russel and Bradley. Several other smaller streets will be resurfaced. The work includes the removal of existing traffic striping, the placement of a surface seal (both a chip seal and a tire rubber modified surface seal), and then re-establishment of traffic striping. The city is contracting with American Pavement Systems to perform the $2.4 million project. Approximately 600,000 square yards of surface seal will be applied, which is about 25 centerline miles of streets. Chip seal is a thin layer road maintenance treatment consisting of asphalt oil covered by small chip rock that protects and extends pavement life. Within two to three days of the chip application, a sprayed-on coat of surface seal called tire rubber modified surface seal (TRMSS) is applied. The road is opened to traffic immediately after chip spreading but traffic will be impacted temporarily during the TRMSS application for a short curing period.
Once the treatment is placed, traffic must remain off the roadway until the material has cured. This generally takes four to five hours or more depending on weather conditions. Once the material is cured, the contractor will open the roadway to traffic.
The contractor will post construction notices on residents’ doors and along streets with the dates and times when parking and access to streets will be prohibited. Construction will move quickly from street to street. Parking will not be allowed in active construction areas. Vehicles that are parked in active construction areas will be towed.
City staff encourage that drivers obey all temporary construction signs and reduce driving speeds in construction areas. Driving on the treated roadway surface before the contractor opens the roadway to traffic can result in damage to the surface treatment as well as a vehicle. The driving public may experience delays during construction. It is recommended to use alternate routes whenever possible to avoid delays and minimize the inconveniences to motorists. – Neil Hartstein
