The in basket: I’ve noticed that paving of streets in Parkwood in South Kitsap this year resembles chip seals, but the result is darker in color, smoother and has less loose rock. I asked about it.

The out basket: Jacques Dean, Kitsap County road superintendent, tells me, “These locations were part of a seal coat pilot project. We applied three different applications of emerging pavement preservation methods to three different roadways in South Kitsap County.

“Our intent is to observe these treatments over the next several years to determine if they are methods that we might want to consider for our maintenance toolbox to preserve our roadways in the future.  The three different applications are as follows:

– We applied a rubberized chip seal to Madrona Drive SE.  This product and application is very similar to our traditional chip seal product.  It differs in that the oil that is placed on the road surface includes a crumb rubber component.  The rubberized oil has a higher viscosity than our traditional oil and as such, is more pliable, is more resistant to ultra violet degradation and reflective cracking, and provides for a quieter ride.

– We provided a two-part rubberized chip seal / slurry seal to Hillandale Drive E and Hillandale Court. E.  Two part applications, such as this, are considered “Cape Seals”.  The rubberized chip seal is placed first, and the slurry seal is placed over the chip seal a couple of weeks later, sufficient to allow the chip seal to set up and cure.

“The slurry seal provides for additional sealing of the pavement surface, and also fills the voids between the chip rock, providing for a smoother aesthetic appearance and quieter ride.

– We provided a traditional chip seal / slurry seal to Pine Tree Drive SE and SE Pine Tree Drive.  This is also a Cape Seal and provides similar benefits as those mentioned above.  The difference in the two is, of course, the rubberized versus the standard chip seal oils.  Traditional chip seal oil is more susceptible to ultra violet light degradation and reflective cracking over time than the rubberized oil.

“We will be contracting for another seal coat pilot project in 2016.  We have not yet determined the type of preservation method, or locations, as of this time.  We will be evaluating potential applications and locations over the fall and winter seasons.

“These ‘new’ preservation methodologies are emerging in the Pacific Northwest, but have been utilized in southern states for decades where warmer temperatures predominate.  It is only recently that innovations in technology have allowed for the advancement of asphalt oils that are conducive to our colder and wetter climate.

“This has opened the door for us to investigate these products. Kitsap County is the fourth county in the state, behind Clark, Pierce and Chelan, to apply these techniques.”

The in basket: I went to the city of Bremerton Web site to find out when the next work party will be to clean up the median of the Gateway (Highway 304) on the west side of town, and came across something that surprised me.

I saw a notice that the city is paving this week on Lake Flora Road and West Belfair Valley Road.

I didn’t know any portion of Lake Flora Road was in the city. And though I often write about the deteriorating condition of the city’s portion of West Belfair Valley Road (you may think of it as Old Belfair Highway, its name in Mason County), I thought there was little hope for improvement money in the foreseeable future.

I learned I was sorely out of date in my understanding of how far south along Highway 3 the city limits extend. Bremerton National Airport. the Olympic View Industrial Park and the first stretch of Lake Flora Road from Highway 3 all are in the city.

They all were annexed in 2009, says Allison Satter of city community development. I had thought city jurisdiction there was limited to city watershed land.

The paving this week will be overlaying the existing pavement. Money for the work comes from a grant the city got from the Puget Sound Regional Council. None of if comes from the car tab add-on the city has been collecting for two years. Other streets have been chosen for work with that money this year.

Managing Street Engineer Gunnar Fridriksson said the grant money was for arterial streets only and they chose these two to avoid dealing with sidewalks. The overlay will use a Kevlar fiber in the hot mix to span weak portions of the roads that otherwise would need a much more costly full reconstruction, he said. West Belfair Valley Road will be repaved from Division Street in Gorst to the entrance to Gold Mountain Golf Course. Lake Flora Road paving was from Highway 3 to where county jurisdiction begins.

That SR304 work party that prompted my search is Saturday morning, incidentally.

The in basket: Bob Simonoff, owner of West Shores Interiors on Chico Way writes, “In the past six weeks or so, the county is digging up asphalt on Chico Way NW and replacing it with new strips of asphalt. Today they came back and dug up portions of the road that they had filled a few weeks ago.

“I was just wondering why they are redoing some portions? And what are the costs to taxpayers, for them to re-dig and refill large portions of the street? (not to mention the disruption to our business).”

The out basket: Callene Abernathy of Kitsap County Public Works says the explanation is the same as for what also looked like duplication on Central Valley Road at just about this time last year, subject of a Road Warrior column at the time..

Here is the explanation provided by County Road Superintendent Don Schulz provided then:

““Full depth patching on this section of road was … in response to distressed areas subject to heavy truck and bus traffic.

“…The existing paved shoulders were still in very good condition, and did not need an overlay,” he said. “This allowed us to consider a partial overlay that can result in significant cost savings.

“If you do not overlay the full width of a road surface you must establish a vertical butt joint at the edge of the paving limits. The process of creating that butt joint could lead a passing motorist to conclude we were grinding out the patches we just placed.

“A butt joint is established by grinding a depth of 1½ inches at the outer edge of the travel way to level near the center line of the road. This butt joint did overlap some areas previously patched. We could have left the patches below grade in the interim period between patching and the overlay, but that would have created some safety concerns.

“Using this approach to limit the overlay to the actual travel lanes and creating a butt joint to support that resulted in saving … asphalt, reducing the overlay cost by $40,000 in material alone. The associated labor costs are also lowered by limiting the overlay to the traffic lanes.” (Don figured the savings on Chico Way to be $35,000).

“Some of the fresh patch material was removed, but considering the safety concerns a 1½-inch drop-off would cause in the interim, and the savings created by this approach, I felt the tradeoff was acceptable,” he said.

“It’s also important for readers to know that the asphalt we did remove from the patch is ground up and reused as fill material for shoulder work,” Don said.

The in basket: Betty Ann Sallis e-mails to say, “Late this fall, Stottlemeyer Road was excavated in numerous areas between Lincoln and Gunderson. It was subsequently patched.

“The road is now very uneven with big areas of patching in each lane on both sides. These patches are very uneven and make driving difficult and bumpy.

“The road was actually in pretty good shape before with the exception of a few potholes,” she said. “It now needs a total topcoat but this was only done in two areas – one being the section where it tees at Lincoln.

“Why did they do this? Is there a plan to topcoat the entire road?”

The in basket: Yes, there is, says Doug Bear of Kitsap County Public Works. What one sees there now “was a pre-level for paving,” he said. “We had planned to pave the road in October, but were unable to get asphalt from our supplier. We were able to get a couple of loads in November that allowed us to pave the tapers off each end. It is planned for one of our first projects during the paving season next year.”