The Santa Clarita City Council reviewed and renewed one of its biggest annual public safety investments Tuesday — its overlay and slurry seal program.
Previously, a city official likened it to putting lotion on the skin for Santa Clarita’s paved roads, with the overlay and slurry seal work on street asphalt intended to prevent further damage or a safety hazard from developing.
While the work has the potential to save lives and prevent significant value in property damage, it is expensive.
The total budgeted program cost for 2023-24 is about $22.9 million, and Tuesday, the Santa Clarita City Council approved spending about $6.5 million for work on roughly 1.2 miles of major arterials for the city — Whites Canyon Road, from Soledad Cayon Road to Delight Street, and on Bouquet Canyon Road, from Soledad to Espuella Drive.
“The annual overlay and slurry seal projects are an integral part of the city’s pavement management program,” according to city officials. “Each year, streets are evaluated and identified for needed pavement preservation and rehabilitation treatments.”
Ramiro Fuentes, project manager for the city of Santa Clarita, said there were a few factors that make the current work particularly pricey.
In addition to doing the most costly night work, so there’s less of an impact to motorists, the actual treatments are more expensive on this go-round because of the level of work, which is more than just surface-level.
“The treatments are very expensive because we’re essentially doing a reconstruction and we have to go through major intersections,” Fuentes said, regarding the work on Bouquet Canyon, which is a four-lane road with a turn pocket, and the city’s most-trafficked street.
The most recent data from the city indicates the Newhall Ranch-Bouquet Canyon Road intersection sees approximately 116,000 cars daily, about 25,000 vehicles more than No. 2, Bouquet and Soledad canyon road/Valencia Boulevard, which many call Bouquet Junction.
“So it’s a very, very wide road, and we also have the bridge deck that goes over the (Santa Clara) River there at Bouquet Canyon Road,” he said.
“And it’s the same thing with Whites Canyon Road,” Fuentes said, referring to the level of work being done at the city’s fifth-busiest intersection, which sees about 76,000 vehicles per day. “It’s three lanes in each direction not including the left-turn pocket, so it’s a significant arterial through schools and then through major intersections there, too.”
Commuters are paying for a lion’s share of the work approved Tuesday by the City Council, with the city reporting that $5 million of the cost is coming from the city’s local allocation from a 12-cents-per-gallon gas tax under Senate Bill 1.
The work is generally done during the summer because the paving settles in temperatures above 55 degrees, Fuentes said, adding night times are chosen due to the lessened impact on motorists, which makes a summer schedule necessary. There are also fewer school commuters.
Fuentes said the city maintains a schedule that reviews its major arterials every year, and every less-traveled street surrounding them on a triannual basis.
A frequently asked questions section is also available online at santa-clarita.com/RoadRehab.
