The Roadway Committee Chair, Kevin Hagerty, contacted the City Public Works Department to see to what can be done to address the continuing problem with the pavement on Third Street in front of the Shell gasoline station before Irvin Street. The left lane is in terrible shape. Much of the pavement in that lane is uneven and is especially bad in the winter months when rain further deteriorates the pavement surface. The City has in a number of instances provided a patch but eventually that patch begins to fail. The following was a response from the Public Works Department (NOTE: temporary repairs were underway today):
“Thank you for contacting the City of San Rafael Department of Public Works regarding the pavement on Third Street. The Street Maintenance Division will investigate this location this week and schedule any necessary repairs at this location, if any. However, the issues at this location are larger than temporary repairs and therefore, there are several things happening, longer term, to address this:
1. We will be contacting the Shell Gas station asking them to close their driveway on Third Street, closest to Irwin. If/when they close their driveway, a portion of this full pavement section will be required to be removed and replaced. Also, some of the asphalt distress is caused by the turning of vehicles as they enter and exit this driveway. Closure of the driveway will reduce this type of distress.
2. The City’s current Capital Improvement Document (a planning document) shows $8.5 Million Dollars for Reconstruction of Third Street between Miracle Mile and Grand Avenue. Reconstructing this roadway will address this complaint permanently. However, construction of this project is not anticipated until Summer 2018.
3. Within the next week, we will be putting our yearly citywide resurfacing project out to bid. As part of this upcoming project, we will discuss this location with the contractor and investigate various alternatives to repair the roadway. As you know, this is a heavily travelled roadway, and previous standard repairs (even though they have been deep) have not lasted. We want to really look at this and see what else we can do so the problem doesn’t occur again. I won’t have more information on this for a couple months (hopefully end of July or early August), when our contract for this upcoming project is finalized.
In the meantime, we will continue to monitor this area and make temporary repairs as feasible. Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
Sincerely,
Leslie Blomquist
Acting Assistant Public Works Director
City of San Rafael, Department of Public Works”