City to spend $4 million treating streets

SAN ANGELO, TX -- (COSA Press Release) The City Council has awarded Ronald R. Wagner & Co. of Kendalia, Texas, a nearly $4.1 million contract to perform the work, as it has the last three years. That figure represents a 65-percent increase over the $2.5 million spent on sealcoating last year. The square yardage that will be treated is increasing 43 percent. The rising cost of petroleum products used in the process accounts for the difference.

This year’s sealcoating of selected streets throughout the city represents the fourth year of an eight-year cycle to maintain every city roadway in San Angelo.

The project’s start date will depend upon the contractor’s availability. The work will take about four weeks and will conclude in August. Streets in the PaulAnn and Bellaire neighborhoods, and the Rio Vista and Houston elementary school areas will be treated. The City also contracted for additional sealcoating in the East Concho area, along Oxford Drive/Avenue, on Foster Road, and in the parking lots at Lone Wolf Bridge and the City’s stormwater operations facility. For maps of the streets to be sealcoated, visit cosatx.us/streets.

Notice to homeowners that their streets will be treated will be provided at least seven days in advance of the work so residents can remove their vehicles from the roadway. Vehicles left in the street will be towed so the work can be completed and returned to the same location. Their owners may be cited and fined for failure to move the vehicle.

Sealcoating is not to be confused with resurfacing a roadway. Sealcoating is a preventative measure. It involves applying a thin layer of asphalt and rock to a street’s surface. That prevents moisture from seeping into the asphalt and damaging the roadway’s base. The process extends the life of a street’s surface.

An $80 million, 10-year plan to rebuild San Angelo’s worst streets is underway. The first three projects have been completed. Those are the reconstruction of Martin Luther King Drive, the widening of a section of Southland Boulevard and the repaving of College Hills Boulevard from Loop 306 to Valleyview Boulevard.

A $22 million project to rebuild Bell Street begins in the fall. As with MLK, that project will include the replacement of water and sewer lines beneath the street, which accounts for $12 million of the total cost. Next month, the City will advertise for bids to repave Southwest Boulevard from Rock Brook to Twin Mountain drives.