Street work raises queries

Choice Services, the contractor sealing many of the asphalt streets throughout Moorcroft, was prepared to begin laying the first coat of slurry on Goshen early Tuesday morning, but after serious discussion among Moorcroft’s governing body the previous evening, it was decided that the work would be halted until the council is better informed about the cost effectiveness of continuing the endeavor.

According to HDR Engineering’s Heath Turbiville, the slurry being used by the company has a very short life expectancy, “It’s not very long – a year with some residual effect for two years.” The product being used is, in fact, better suited to parking lots, Councilman Dale Petersen advised, with Turbiville agreeing, “It more for a parking lot application.”

Most of the asphalt roads in town are actually in need of the more expensive overlay, which entails laying a thin layer of hot asphalt over the existing surface, creating a new asphalt surface. “You should plan on overlays on a regular basis in order to keep the asphalt in good shape,” advised Turbiville, while crack sealing should be a matter of yearly maintenance.

Mayor Dick Claar advocated sealing the cracks to protect the subgrade from water damage, but expressed his uncertainty about “just putting the coating on” as the company has been advised to do at this point. Any more crack sealing will be done after the seal coating as funding allows, Public Works Director Cory Allison had earlier explained.

Petersen concurred, “That’s my concern, we’ve got all those cracks we’re putting a coating on. I don’t want to spend all this money on coating if it’s going to last maybe a year.”

Petersen admitted that he did not have a clear understanding of exactly what seal coating the roads entailed in this situation. “I didn’t understand what they were using,” he said.

“Initially,” said Councilman Paul Smoot, “it was a good idea; obviously, the crack sealing is the way to go, but I’m with Dale, is this really a smart way to use our money?”

With this concern, after the appropriate crack sealing and slurry of Big Horn Avenue overall, the areas where the asphalt is so damaged that Choice could not seal compromises the entire base and should have been addressed first, according to council discussion.

Councilman Owen Mathews compared the price of simply replacing the asphalt on one entire block, which would mitigate the need for future repairs: “We just spent a bunch to seal these streets and we’re being told it isn’t worth more than a year or two. If you take $20,000, you can concrete where it’s broke up so bad for the same price and not have to come back and fix it in a year.”

“We’ve got a good job of [concrete] on the north west side,” Smoot opined, “We just need to dump our money into that and try to do the sealing on our asphalt streets for as long as we can.”

Councilman Ben Glenn said of the situation, “I want it done right and know it’s going to be there for a long time.” He added that he is “100% in favor” of the seal coating of the newer asphalt streets to maintain their existing integrity.

This work is being funded by the third specific tax money and town attorney Jim Peck advised the council that they are, in fact, spending those funds on maintenance, which is not according to statute.

“That is not really what that money is intended for. If you read the statute, it’s pretty clear, ‘for major renovation of a street’ – for overlay.” However, the mayor stated that, while the sealing is technically maintenance, “without it we will lose our streets and be back to gravel”.

In some frustration, Smoot expressed his concern that the council seems to be always “reacting instead of actually planning” in these situations. Petersen and Mathews agreed.

Mathews suggested that, in the future, public works create a project list prioritizing the streets that need attention so the council can better plan their actions.

The council met with a company representative Tuesday morning and Choice was allowed to continue work slurry sealing Goshen, from Cheyenne to Yellowstone and then the will return to Big Horn to crack seal.