Motorists should expect some level of disruption through July
The City of Bartlesville is one step closer to launching its preventive maintenance street project thanks to a vote of the City Council on Monday.
The $3.7 million project will see some of the city’s most heavily-traveled roadways in some state of disruption through early summer.
“This will be a first for us,” said Director of Engineering Micah Siemers. “It’s a large-scale project that involves crack sealing the streets and then applying a Bonded Matrix Overlay.”
BMO is similar to microsurfacing but is a more robust option capable of holding up to higher traffic volumes and speeds. It consists of an aggregate chip seal topped with a High Density Mineral Bond (HA5) to seal the pavement, Siemers said. “Essentially, contract crews will be filling cracks in the asphalt with a rubberized sealant, which will help prevent water and debris from penetrating the pavement. Then the BMO will be added for further protection and extend the life of these roads.”
The council approved a contract with Holbrook Asphalt to do the work, which Siemers said should have a very quick start later this week. Assuming all contracts and bonds are ready in time, the contractor plans to start on the crack sealing on May 8.
“The contractor will do the streets in phases,” Siemers said. “They will have a subcontractor begin crack sealing. Once they get far enough ahead with that task, they will begin applying the aggregate chip seal according to a schedule that will be posted on a website that will be updated regularly as needed.
Siemers said the contractor will provide information to business owners and residents on the sections of roadway they will be working on with the process information along with a QR code to access a website launched about the project, which can be viewed HERE.
Siemers said that once the aggregate chip seal is applied, it needs to sit for at least two weeks before they apply HA5 over the top of the chip seal.
“This is the final layer of protection for the roadway and creates a nice driving surface,” he said. “This will be the most disruptive part of the project because they can’t put traffic back on this product for at least 12 hours. This is the phase of the project that will see the longest road closures.
“The intent is to keep traffic open on half of the roadway while they work on the other half. They will break the work up to different parts of town so they can keep making progress without closing too much of one area at a time. The final step, once all of the BMO has been applied, will be the striping.
“Motorists should expect some level of disruption until the project is completed, which we’re hoping will be around the middle of July. We’ll have more details after we meet with the contractor later this week.”
The streets on the approved list are primarily higher traffic volume streets with speed limits in the 40-45 mph range.
Streets included in the project are:
- Bison Road — Tuxedo Boulevard to Nowata Road
- Tuxedo Boulevard — Madison Boulevard to Bison Road
- Madison Boulevard — Tuxedo Boulevard to Price Road
- Price Road — Washington Boulevard to Madison Boulevard
- Frank Phillips Boulevard — Sunset Boulevard to Keeler, Delaware to Hillside Drive and Avondale Street to Madison Boulevard
- Johnstone Avenue — Adams Boulevard to 14th Street and Fourth Street to Fifth Street
- Nowata Road — Silver Lake Road to Washington Boulevard
- Jefferson Place — Lincoln Road to Boardwalk Court
- Virginia Avenue — Hensley Boulevard to Butler Creek
More information about this project is available at https://ha5roads.com/city-of-bartlesville-pavement-preservation/, a website produced and hosted by Holbrook Asphalt.