THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF PORT COQUITLAM

MEMORANDUM

Mr. F.E. Peters, DATE: October 27th, 1978
City Engincer

George Ulmer
Works & Utilities Supt.

RE: Asphalt Road Maintenance Report

During the past 25 years or so the City has always done the
Street maintenance and improvements by means of a flush coating process
i.e., Primer R.C. 3 with 1/2 or 3/8 crushed or birds eye aggregate over~
lay rolled into emulsion. It has always been quite economical, especially
when we had our own distributor truck.

Recently and especially in the last two years with the tremendous
increase in the price of petroleum products, the costs of flush coating
have increased considerably in comparison to permanent asphalt. Therefore,
I feel that we have come to the point in time where we should discontinue.
the flush coating operation and do permanent paving instead. so

There are a number of other reasons other than costs and these
are: the availability of clean aggregates has become a problem, complaints
from residents of oil and loose gravel, bleeding during hot weather, etc.

I also feel that flush coating has become out-dated and we need to go along
with che times. We are about the only municipality that is still flush
coating road surfaces. The life expectancy of a double flushed street is
about 5 to 8 years in comparison to permanent asphalt which is from 10 to
20 years depending on traffic load, road base condition, drainage, ete.

The following is a cost comparison of flush coating versus
asphalt paving:

1978 FLUSH COATING COSTS -75¥3 sq. yd.

DOUBLE LIFT COST 2 X 4.75! sq. yd. $1.51 sq.yd.

1978 PAVING COSTS CONTRACT $14.96 Ton

INSTALLED, COST OF 2" ASPHALT 9 sq.’ yd. per ton $1.66 sq.yd.

DIFFERENCE 15 sq.yd.

With only a difference of 15¢ per square yard between asphalt and flush
coat, you can see why it is more expensive especially after a five year
.peried and it doubles when you get to 10 to 12 years. Permanent paving
will also give you a smoother and more attractive road.

In summarizing I would recommend that we discontinue flush
coating as of this year and go to machine laid permanent paving.

GU/alg yo f)
| Chime
o g
George wa