Road construction projects are prevalent in the area at this time of year including in the City of Ripon.

Work on the Ripona Resurface Project has been ongoing since May since Knife River Construction was awarded the $1.5 million bid by the Ripon City Council to handle the resurfacing of various streets just east of Highway 99.

No discussion was necessary at the Oct. 14 meeting as elected leaders approved a change order in the amount of $137,675, paid via the Streets and Road Fund.

Knife River Construction will do a three-inch grind and asphalt overlay along certain parts of the project to increase the life of the improvements with a level of oxidation along with other work.

During the design phase of the project, city staff met with a contractor to determine the best construction method to rehabilitate certain areas – City Administrator Kevin Werner indicated in his report that those parts of the roads were oxidized to a point areas were reveling and creating loose aggregate – would include the three-layer resurfacing method consisting of micro-surface layer of asphalt to level the roads and fill in small gaps.

A chip seal would be used to provide a thin structural layer, finishing off with a slurry seal.

While Knife River Construction agreed that the three-layer method is workable, the contractor estimated it would only last a couple of years due to the original asphalt continuing to shift and come apart, factoring in the traffic, in turn, causing the three-layers of resurfacing to break down faster than what’s normally experienced (8-10 years).

The stretch of roads with these levels of oxidation are:

·         Prospect Avenue between the Frontage Road and Ridge Avenue.

·         California Street between the Frontage Road and North Stockton Avenue.

·         Washington Street between the Frontage Road and North Stockton Avenue.

·         Hillside Avenue between North Stockton Avenue and Ridge Avenue.

·         Sunrise Avenue between Milgeo Avenue and Hillside Avenue.

The cost for this part of the change order was $127,675. Couple that with staff’s request to add striping to the project ($3,737) for a bike lane along Milgeo Avenue between Acacia Avenue and Arc Way in order to increase the safety of this segment of roadway while improving the connectivity to the other bike lanes.

Another $5,980 to the change order included staff’s request for the contractor to perform utility potholes on Cobblestone Court prior to the road being demolished. This would ensure there wouldn’t be a conflict with residential utility connections that would delay the project.