# San Mateo County Road Maintenance



## ratpick (Jul 31, 2008)

Some road resurfacing coming.. although it will bring some pain while the new surfaces wear in, it should improve some of these roads significantly. Hat-tip to Judith from WW..

Subject: San Mateo County Chip Seal and Cape Seal Project 

The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors authorized road pavement improvements on July 27, 2010, which included the chip sealing of the following roads:

Higgins Canyon Road; Purisima Creek Road; Verde Road (from Purisima Creek Road to Highway 1); Tunitas Creek Road (from Lobitos Creek Road to Skyline Boulevard); Stage Road (from La Honda Road to Pomponio Creek Road); Pomponio Creek Road; Canyon Road; Eden West Road and the cape sealing, which is a chip seal with a slurry seal placed as a top coat of the following road:

Kings Mountain Road (from Skyline Boulevard to County limits approximately 0.5 miles west of Entrance Way or about 4 miles in length from Skyline Boulevard).

This type of work is integral to the overall maintenance of County roads.

The work, which is currently scheduled to begin in late August or early September and to extend into mid September of 2010, will result in some traffic delays and in periodic road closures not lasting more than 1 work day at any specific location. Where temporary road closures are necessary, detour routes will be clearly marked with signs. In addition, advisory signs notifying drivers of specific construction dates will be posted as construction schedules are finalized.

Please note that a chip seal consists of the application of oil and very small gravel (approximately a quarter of an inch in diameter). This will preliminarily result in some additional texture to the roadway. However, traffic usage generally smooths out the road surfaces in the months subsequent to the work.. A chip seal was recently placed on West Alpine Road as well as on Pescadero Creek Road about a year ago by the Public Works Department. On Kings Mountain Road, an additional application of a slurry seal which consists of the application of a mixture of oil and sand sized aggregate will be placed a few days after the placement of the chip seal. This will result in a slightly smoother roadway surface.

Please advise your members regarding the planned work. In addition, you may want to consider not scheduling any events or rides on the affected roads within the anticipated construction time frames as there will be some “Loose Gravel” on the roads during construction as well as “Loose Gravel” signage placed along the roads to inform the public.

Should you have any questions concerning the work, you may contact Joe LoCoco, Deputy Director, Road Services Division or Steven Fischer, Road Maintenance Manager at 650-363-4103.


James C. Porter, Director of Public Works


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## Undecided (Apr 2, 2007)

ratpick said:


> Some road resurfacing coming.. although it will bring some pain while the new surfaces wear in, it should improve some of these roads significantly. Hat-tip to Judith from WW..
> 
> James C. Porter, Director of Public Works


I'm (maybe unduly) impressed that Mr. Porter reached out to her. That said, all those roads are fine and this is a waste of money (or whatever non-cyclists say whenever any sort of bike accommodation is made).


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## Dr_John (Oct 11, 2005)

Thanks for the info Ratpick.

Also, this will (possibly) be the last weekend to ride across the bridge on top of Crystal Springs Dam for a very long time. It's set to be demolished starting August. 

Too bad... I've always loved riding across that.



> That said, all those roads are fine


Not in my opinion. Some sections of the roads mentioned are in terrible shape and do need repair.


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## ratpick (Jul 31, 2008)

Yeah.. I've been doing a few rides across the Crystal Springs Dam recently, while it's still there. The signs on there are unclear if the closure will be "beginning (of) August)" or "beginning (sometime in) August" but I'm assuming it will be earlier.

Logistically, I'm wondering if they'll need to drain (or lower) the reservoir to do this work.. that should be interesting!


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Thanks for the info! It would be good to get the top section of Kings down, though it seems likely only a couple of years since they did the lower part. Some of the Woodside maze roads are really nice now. Looks like the recession hasn't hit the city coffers in Woodside too hard ...

Old Page Mill Road has been resurfaced in the last month, all but the last 400 yards or so at the western end. The construction trucks are still there and there's lots of paint on the last big wrinkle left in the road so I'm hopeful that they will finish the job.

I wish they'd do the last 100 yards of Old La Honda. That's got to be worth a good 5 seconds.


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## dwgranda (Sep 8, 2009)

If they pave it like they did Kings and Tunitas I wonder if you actually get faster (maybe anything helps on that atrocious section on OLH). Maybe it's in the mind but it feels like I stick to the road more over these sections. Getting tons of little rocks in my shoes is a small price to pay for these much appreciated improvements.


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## ratpick (Jul 31, 2008)

ukbloke said:


> Thanks for the info! It would be good to get the top section of Kings down, though it seems likely only a couple of years since they did the lower part. Some of the Woodside maze roads are really nice now. Looks like the recession hasn't hit the city coffers in Woodside too hard ...


Revenue from booking cyclists at stop signs? Yeah, I know the city/county doesn't receive it.. just thought I'd throw in a jab...



ukbloke said:


> I wish they'd do the last 100 yards of Old La Honda. That's got to be worth a good 5 seconds.


I think that needs more than just a slurry seal  I think it needs a full grind down and resurface. The good thing about the current state is that it gets you off the saddle for a final sprint, even if you're already spent! But those bumps have induced more than one cramp on a final sprint for me.


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## TahoeBC (Mar 11, 2008)

They were repaving the top 1/3 of Old La Honda yesterday afternoon, although closed to traffic they did allow bikes though. As I got to were they were laying down the new asphalt they warned me the surface was hot, road though it anyway, tires were a bit of a mess for awhile and I may have my own personal rut I can look at for the next couple years if they didn't smooth it over.


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## HammerTime-TheOriginal (Mar 29, 2006)

What type of surface was the top of OLH paved with?

For sentimental reasons, I hope they kept the very rough section at the top as is - sort of a moral equivalent to pavé.


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## TahoeBC (Mar 11, 2008)

Definitively not a chip seal a new layer Asphalt


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