Ritzville Council receives crack seal cost presentation

During the Jan. 17 Ritzville City Council meeting, Council Member Scott Yaeger provided the council with a spreadsheet relating to the cost of materials to purchase for crack sealing city streets in 2018.

At the Oct. 3, 2017, meeting, the Ritzville City Council set aside $15,000 in the city’s 2018 budget for the Public Works Department to purchase materials and rent equipment to crack seal a portion of local streets.

In the spreadsheet, Yaeger said streets were grouped into three classifications: primary routes, secondary roads and local access. Streets also had a pavement condition rating from the Washington State Department Transportation Improvement Board (TIB).

All of the streets listed on the spreadsheet were rated from 40 to 76, which are considered in fair condition, according to TIB criteria.

Yaeger recommended the city crack seal streets by prioritizing the primary routes, then secondary roads, followed by local access streets. The costs for the materials to complete crack sealing all of the primary access streets and some of the secondary streets would be over $11,000.

The cost for materials to crack seal all of the primary, secondary and local routes on the spreadsheet is estimated at $25,975.56.

The cost of materials in the spreadsheet was based on 2018 prices. There is also a possibility that streets with wider and deeper cracks may need additional materials or an entirely different seal material to fill them.

The approximate $11,000 would purchase seven pallets of regular CRAFCO Road Saver 546 crack seal material.

The city would still need to spend money to rent equipment for the work. Yaeger estimated the cost to rent a crack seal machine to be $4,000 a month or $1,400 a week.

Yaeger added there are other routes the city could use to rent the equipment. One option would be for the city to borrow Adams County’s crack sealing machine when the Public Works Department is not using it.

He also recommended the city air out the debris from large cracks before renting the machine.

Yaeger said this will be an ongoing process and is depending on what the city obligates for crack sealing in the future.

When it comes to traffic control, Public Works Department employees could close the street for a half an hour to complete the work without interruption. Employees would set up barricades and move them along as they move up each street.

After completing the primary and secondary routes, the city could crack seal local access routes. Once those are completed, Yaeger recommended staff could also seal the streets in rated 78-100, which is rated in good condition.

If the crack seal materials are purchased, Public Works Director Larry Swift said he is confident crews could set up the barricades and spend 2-3 days removing the debris out of the larger cracks before they begin the crack seal work.

The crack seal would begin when the weather improves and the schedule of the crew, possibly as early as spring or as late as the fall.