Summer will end with street slurry work in northwest Carson City

Carson City's five-year slurry seal program will lay oil and sand this fall on the streets of the Shenandoah Heights, University Heights, Silver Oak neighborhoods and side streets off the north end Mountain Street.

Many of the streets in the northwest section of Carson City will see closures of about four hours a day in late August, September or October as slurry seal is applied, said John Flansberg, the city's street operations manager.

Mountain Street from Fleischmann Way to West Nye Lane will be closed in two segments over a two-day period as the street gets a new surface overlay. Roop Street will also get an overlay between Hot Springs Road and College Parkway, said John Platt, a city street division engineering technician.

The goal is to keep water from getting under the street surface. The city is in the second year of a five-year program of maintenance work on all 250 miles of city-maintained streets.

The city did work on 40 miles of streets last year with plans to fix up 50 miles this year. Slurry seal will be applied to 18 miles and overlays will go on 4 miles of asphalt. The remaining mileage is getting a fog seal - a thin oil seal coat that has a shorter lifespan than slurry seal.

Asphalt generally lasts a maximum of about 15 or 20 years but starts deteriorating after about five years.

"Slurry seal extends the life of asphalt five to eight years," Flansberg said. "You can put a little money into slurry sealing and extend the life of the road. Overlays are a lot more expensive."

Fog seal, which has a two- to three-year life, costs 2 cents per square foot. Slurry seal costs 10 cents, overlays 50 cents and rebuilding a street costs $2.50 per square foot.

Flansberg has budgeted $800,000 for this year's slurry seal program. The Silver Oak development paid in advance several years ago to have its streets slurry sealed.

The sand-and-oil slurry follows crack sealing work that was done in winter. The slurry protects the asphalt surface, Flansberg said.

As asphalt ages, it oxidizes as the surfaces loses the oil. That's why asphalt goes from black to gray to light gray. This leads to cracking, allowing water to get under the surface, which further damages pavement.

"Slurry seal gets the road black again," Flansberg said.

The city's slurry seal program is coordinated with the Southwest Gas' fuel line replacement program. The streets division usually follows the gas company neighborhood by neighborhood, generally a year or two later.

"There's communication!" Platt said.

Slurry seal work will hit the following areas starting in late August or early September:

- Bonanza Drive from Carson Street to Garnet Way and surrounding streets.

- Oak Ridge Drive and surrounding streets.

- Streets off Ormsby Boulevard, north of Winnie Lane.

- Streets off Mountain Street between Long Street and West Nye Lane.

Pavement overlays will come to several streets bounded by Winnie Lane, Mountain Street and Long Street.