Using mill and overlay means work on Southwest 38th Street could begin this year

Mill and overlay work could produce a better surface on Southwest 38th Street more quickly than a complete rebuild would, at significantly less cost.

Members of the City Council’s Streets and Bridges Committee opted for that route Tuesday, voting unanimously to recommend that the full council accept the idea of doing a mill and overlay on the arterial between West Lee and West Gore boulevards. Not only would the cost be less — $5 million versus $17 million to $20 million for a complete rebuild — but the six-month project could begin this year, said Ward 4 Councilman George Gill, chairman of the streets committee.

“The road qualifies,” said Gill, adding there would be “no problem to do it.”

The recommendation is a decided change from the route city officials have been working on as they planned to completely rebuild 2 miles of Southwest 38th Street between West Gore Boulevard and Bishop Road, starting with the north mile. That segment is the west boundary of Cameron University’s main campus, and provides an access point for ballfields west of the campus as well as medical offices and other businesses along the east side of the road.

Traffic lanes there, particularly northbound lanes between West Gore Boulevard and the railroad tracks one-half mile south, are extremely deteriorated, and city officials have been making plans for years to rebuild the road. But council members also have expressed frustration with the speed at which work is progressing. Last year, city engineers and streets officials said that before the road could be rebuilt, they recommended replacement of a 12-inch water main along the 2-mile stretch.

City administrators said that waterline relocation won’t be necessary if the city doesn’t rebuild the road, Gill said. Replacing a complete rebuild project with mill and overlay also means the city won’t need to acquire right of way for the waterline or hire a contractor to install the line. And as that work is going on, construction design plans would have to be finished, meaning it would be at least a year before the city was ready to go out for bids on the construction contract.

Mill and overlay work could begin much more quickly, essentially as soon as city administrators identify a funding source for the estimated $5 million cost.

“If we do mill and overlay, we can start pretty soon,” Gill said, adding his recommendation would be that option, but allow city staff to keep acquiring right of way (some parcels already have been obtained) for a rebuild project he expects to occur in the future.

Gill had another argument for mill and overlay: the $17 million estimated construction cost is several years old; today’s cost probably would be closer to $20 million.

Chris Serrano, with engineering consulting firm WSB, estimated a mill and overlay project on that segment of Southwest 38th Street would take about six months. That technique means grinding off the top layer of asphalt, then applying a new layer of asphalt for a smoother finish that also gives the treated road five to eight more years of life.

In this instance, WSB engineers said the project would include removal of 4 inches of asphalt and some stabilization grade work, before a new 8-inch layer of asphalt is applied. The same technique would be applied to the segment of Southwest 38th Street between West Lee Boulevard and Bishop Road, a technique engineers say is “heavy rehabilitation” rather than reconstruction.

Ward 5 Councilman Allan Hampton, another committee member, said the city also has the option to do mill and overlay on the entire road segment, then rebuild problem areas if needed.