At a regular meeting held by the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) on Aug. 20, the board approved a change order in the amount of $18,500 for the Light Plant Road project currently taking place.
Earlier that day at a work session, Public Works Director Michael Torres explained that prior to milling on Light Plant Road, it was unknown that there was a state 911 fiber line at the hairpin turn headed east toward U.S. 84.
He noted the fiber line is owned by Lumen, also known as CenturyLink.
“So, CenturyLink has been really hard to get a hold of and get anything done,” he said.
Once CenturyLink “finally” came out to the site, it was determined that it could take up to two months before they could get a crew out to relocate the fiber line, Torres explained.
He explained that he asked for an alternative way to take care of the issue and it was decided that PAP, the selected contractor for the Light Plant repaving project, would dig a trench and have the line relocated.
Torres noted that the county will seek reimbursement from CenturyLink in the amount of $14,500 to cover the cost of relocating the fiber line.
He also noted that CenturyLink is aware of this plan and that the county will be seeking reimbursement.
Torres added that paving on Light Plant Road began this week.
Also included in the change order is $4,000 for “additional work to be performed to reclean all roadside ditches after a significant rain event,” a document attached to the meeting agenda states.
According to an email from Communications Specialist Ashley Springer, “Per Mike Torres, the project is still on schedule to be completed by ‘the end of August.’”
Chip seal projects
At an Aug. 6 meeting, the BoCC approved awarding the 2024 county chip sealing project to A-1 Chipseal at a cost of $846,324.
Earlier in the day, at the work session, Torres explained that the project would cover 10 miles of roads.
He indicated that the county received two bids on the chip sealing project, from PAP at a cost of $872,980 and from A-1 at a cost of $846,324.
A-1 is currently performing chip sealing work in Pagosa Springs, Torres stated, which meant that they would be faster to mobilize, in addition to being the lowest bidder.
He stated that the chip sealing will occur on roads where hot-in-place recycling work occurred earlier in the year, including sections of North Pagosa Boulevard, South Pagosa Boulevard, Navajo Trail Drive and Hatcher Circle.
Chip sealing will also occur on roads in the Lakewood Village area that were treated with Enviroad paving products in 2023, Torres stated, adding that Enviroad would also be coming to the area soon to perform repairs on these roads prior to chip sealing.
He expressed hope that this would improve these roads and make them “nicer” since they currently “look like a gravel road.”
Torres explained that the county initially anticipated that the cost of the chip sealing project would be about $1.2 million and that he was working with A-1 to potentially do additional roads with the remaining funds since the initial project is less expensive.
The group then briefly discussed what roads might be selected for work, with Torres explaining that he plans to spend 80 percent of the budget on larger projects and dedicate 20 percent to smaller roads that have not received work in the past, including areas that were previously chip sealed but have deteriorated.
Commissioner Warren Brown stated that the roads treated by Enviroad in the Lakewood Village area should still be under warranty and commented that the county should investigate charging Enviroad for a portion of the cost of chip sealing those roads since they have “failed completely in many spots.”
Torres stated that, from his discussions with Enviroad and others, he believes that the intention of Kevin Pogue, the previous public works director, was to chip seal these roads, although he was not sure why the Enviroad treatment was applied if the roads would ultimately be chip sealed.
In the future, he commented that chip seal would be the county’s “best bet” for the roads in the area.
Brown asked County Attorney Todd Weaver to work with Torres to determine what legal options the county would have to seek reimbursement for the projects, adding that he feels the county should be “made whole for that substandard product that was applied.”
Weaver stated that he would look into the contracts and the county’s legal options.
Torres commented that the contracts for the project were “kind of vague.”
Commissioner Ronnie Maez questioned if there was a contract for the work.
Torres confirmed there was.
Brown noted that the Enviroad product began to fail soon after it was applied.
At the Aug. 6 BoCC meeting, Torres presented the bids and the commissioners unanimously voted to select A-1 for the project after indicating that they had no further questions.
During the regular meeting held by the BoCC on Aug. 20, the board voted unanimously to approve another chip seal project in the amount of $348,367, also awarded to A-1.
The roads for this project include Fiesta Place, Enchanted Place, Dayspring Place, Carefree Place, Butte Drive and County Road 200.
Earlier in the day at a work session, Torres explained that due to the way the contract with Davis Engineering reads, the additional roads were not able to be included in a change order, but that a new project was created.
“These were all roads that were chip sealed long ago,” Torres said, explaining that the roads are currently being milled and that chip sealing will begin next week.
“200 needs it bad … well they all need it, but man,” Maez said.
