The in basket: Rich Robinson of Bremerton e-mailed to say, “Recently, Mc Williams Road was repaved between Safeway and Central Valley
Road. There are numerous pieces of rubber protruding from the asphalt. They are about a fourth of an inch thick and maybe 2 inches tall. Any idea on what they are and what’s their purpose?”
The out basket: They mark the location of utility accesses. It’s much more efficient in an overlay to cover the entire road and then go back and uncover those accesses and build them up to the new elevation of the pavement.
“All manholes, valve covers, survey monument casings, etc. that get covered during an overlay have to be raised,” says Doug Bear of Kitsap County Public Works. “So the rubber cone is used to locate where each one is. Later, the cover is exposed, raised and the asphalt is patched around the cover.”
