Crews will be repaving two busy city streets

Motorists will surely take notice next week as Yakima's major street-repair project of 2008 gets started.

Crews working for contractor Granite Northwest will begin prepping portions of Nob Hill Boulevard, one of the city's five busiest thoroughfares, for repaving work known as a grind and overlay.

The project spans Third Avenue to 24th Avenue but is not a complete overhaul, covering only the inside lanes of the five-lane street.

City spokesman Randy Beehler said work crews will grind off three inches of the old road surface, then overlay it with three inches of fresh asphalt.

Once that work is done, the contractor will begin a complete grind-and-overlay of Third Avenue from Chestnut Avenue to Mead Avenue.

Beehler estimated the entire project will take about a month. Crews will work from 2 a.m. to 2 p.m. to minimize disruptions to traffic.

The total cost of the project is $1.45 million, and it is being funded by a general obligation bond. The bond, in turn, is being repaid with real estate excise taxes.

The repair project is the only one currently on the books. The city does not have a long-term road repair schedule, and at present no projects have been identified for 2009.

In lieu of grind-and-overlay projects, the city generally concentrates on a less expensive gravel and asphalt repaving method called chip-sealing.

This year, the city has chip-sealed portions of five arterials: Powerhouse Road, Castlevale Road, 72nd Avenue, Zier Road and 80th Avenue.

A 2006 city report found that three of the five busiest streets in Yakima — 16th Avenue, 40th Avenue and Nob Hill — need to be widened and repaved.

City traffic engineers also say 20 percent of the 95 miles of arterials are in poor or failing condition.

* Chris Bristol can be reached at 577-7748 or cbristol@yakimaherald.com.

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