Public Works
Salton City road project wins award.
Citing its sustainable engineering approach, the county Public Works Department’s 2.8-mile Salton City roadway project was recognized as the overall winner of the 2017 Outstanding Local Streets and Roads Project Award on Thursday.
The award stemmed from the local project’s environmentally friendly use of existing on-site materials in place of more costly and environmentally detrimental removal and replacement construction methods, a press release from the League of California Cities stated.
The recognition was awarded by the County Engineers Association of California and the League of California Cities Public Works Officers’ Institute on Thursday in San Diego.
The Salton City roadway project was recognized for its 67 percent recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) usage, which recycled 11,043 tons of existing asphalt assets, as well as conserving 24,774 tons of non-renewable aggregate resources, the press release stated.
In addition, the project avoided the deposit of 13,594 cubic yards of subgrade soils into a local landfill, and eliminated 4,701 heavily loaded trucks transporting materials to and from the project site, along with their associated wear and tear on roads, traffic congestion, fuel, oil and energy usage, the press release stated.
The project featured cement stabilization of the subgrades to provide a stabilized base section for pavement application and the existing asphalt was recycled using cold central plant recycling (CCPR) to create a newly paved base course asphalt section, which was subsequently capped with thinner hot mix asphalt (HMA) overlay, the League of California Cities reported.
The efforts combined to create an estimated cost savings of over $1 million in greenhouse gas emissions, the press release stated.
The Imperial County Public Works Department was among five total winners, consisting of two counties and three cities. The city of Commerce, the town of Windsor, the city of San Diego and the county of Los Angeles also won in separate categories.
“Local governments really do have this ‘can-do’ spirit, especially when facing difficult conditions,” said Jay Spurgin, president of the League of California Cities Public Works Department and the public works director for the city of Thousand Oaks, in a written statement.
“The public and policy makers need to know that when we have the resources, we can provide the highest level of service on our streets and roadway systems for our local communities,” said John Presleigh, president of the County Engineer’s Association and the Santa Cruz County public works director, in a written statement.