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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Tuesday, May 26, 2015 7:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 15 of 22 12. CASCO POINT CHIP SEAL PROJECT (continued) recent investment by seal coating those streets and adding a water resistant layer to the wear surface of the road to reduce water penetration of the pavement surface. Edwards stated that work will help protect the structure and increase the overall life of the roadway. Public Works has received quotes from three different contractors and would recommend accepting Allied Blacktop’s bid for $54,249. Edwards noted that is a not to exceed cost. Edwards indicated the cost will be less than that because the bid included Casco Point Circle, which he is not recommending be completed at this time since a mill and overlay will likely be performed on that road in the next couple of years. Walsh stated he has a general disagreement with the chip sealing and that chip sealing does not create any more structure for the road. Walsh stated he would debate the merits of whether any more useful life is gained by doing the chip sealing. Walsh stated every road is different and that he would like the engineer to look at this to see if he is in favor of the project and whether it will really extend the life of the road. Edwards stated the Federal Highway Association, MN/DOT, and Minnesota’s Local Resource Board have all completed studies that cite that preventative maintenance of roadways does extend their life considerably. Edwards stated an engineer is not able to guarantee that it will be extended for X number of years since a number of factors play into that. Edwards stated based on the research that has been done, it shows chip sealing will extend the life. Edwards indicated one of the studies looked at some roads in Eagan and the life was doubled in that situation. Edwards noted the City did invest several million dollars a few years ago on the roads and that they are attempting to take care of them and prevent cracks from forming. Edwards noted the chip sealing is not intended to increase the structure of the road but is a sealing process to prevent water from penetrating into the surface. In the case of this project, Edwards indicated he asked the contractors to provide quotes for both crack sealing and chip sealing so the big cracks would be sealed first, followed by the chip sealing over the entire surface of the road, which in essence seals the road. Edwards indicated it is similar to painting the side of your house in that the paint does not add to the structure of the house but it prevents rain from getting into the grains of the wood. Walsh stated to his knowledge they do not do chip sealing on heavily traveled roads since it gets kicked up and destroyed. Walsh stated the question is where that point is and that he is not sure if the engineer can speak better to that. Edwards noted he is the City Engineer and that he is licensed in the states of Minnesota and Missouri. Walsh stated he is speaking of the consulting City Engineer. Edwards stated the research shows that chip sealing on low volume residential streets is beneficial. Edwards noted there is an ongoing study by the Local Roads Research Board that is looking at whether chip sealing is beneficial on more heavily traveled roads. Item #03 - CC Agenda - 06/08/2015 Approval of Council Minutes 05/26/15 [Page 15 of 22]