More than double the size of combined area of Pacheco Pass
shopping centers received a facelift
n By Serdar Tumgoren
Staff Writer
Gilroy – More than 2.5 million square feet of city roads – or double the size of the combined Pacheco Pass shopping centers – got a fresh seal of oil and rock this summer as part of the city’s chip seal maintenance program.
The maintenance cost $600,000 and is nearly double what the city typically spends on a program that extends the life of roads and saves millions of dollars in long-term costs.
Unexpected returns from the gas tax allowed the city to repair more roadway than originally expected, which meant more closures, according to Todd Barreras, Gilroy’s supervisor of the street, sewer and forestry division. The city typically performs the work during summer months, but technical problems caused a second round of chip sealing to stretch into the school year.
“The citizens of Gilroy have really been understanding of our closure of the streets,” said Barreras, explaining that residents in larger cities often complain more. “In this small town, they’re a little more understanding and a lot more appreciative.”
Officials have a regular rotation for street repair, with every portion of a road getting chip sealed over the course of eight years. The city is divided into eight zones and each one receives a little work each year, so no single area is neglected for too long.
This summer’s work focused on areas in northwest Gilroy and the center of the city, including Hannah and Rosanna streets on the north and south sides of the 10th Street corridor.
Before resurfacing takes place, a team of 11 city workers fill in cracks and pot holes. They then collaborate with county workers and private contractors to put down a layer or oil, followed by rocks and a final layer of oil.
“It’s not going to give you a completely smooth surface, but it gives you more traction in the winter,” Barreras explained. On courts and dead ends, the city leaves a smoother finish on the road so children can play with less chance of scrapes and cuts.
Chip sealing roads is expensive maintenance work that costs the city an average of $350,000 annually, according to City Administrator Jay Baksa.
“It’s a long-standing maintenance tradition of trying to do a little maintenance on all of our streets periodically so we don’t have to do major reconstruction, which is many times more expensive,” he said. “This is truly a situation where an ounce of a prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
The large quantities of oil used in chip sealing are the main source of its high costs, according to Barreras, who said the recent downturn in oil prices will not affect the industry until winter. By then, he and the city’s street repair crews will have turned their attention to a different set of problems.
“Right now,” Barreras said, “we’re gearing up for pot holes and the rainy season.”
