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Council authorizes change order for Dean and Bolton road repairs after staff, council debate over warranty and soils
Summary
The council approved a roughly $121,500 change order to repair cracking on Dean and Bolton roads, after staff said expansive soils and recent weather cycles caused the distress and geotechnical recommendations were followed during construction.
The City Council authorized the city manager to approve a change order of $121,538.33 for the FY23 street-rehabilitation package to repair cracked pavement along Dean Road and Bolton Road.
Public Works staff said the street-rehab project initially bid substantially below the engineer's estimate; the contract included a wide range of items and, after construction, workers identified about 4,000 square yards of asphalt with weather-related cracking that should be addressed. The repairs represent less than 7% of the project area and under 3% of the total contract value, staff said. Because change orders and measured pay items produced net savings elsewhere in the contract, the incremental increase now recommended is smaller than the gross repair estimate.
Councilman Joel Hicks pressed staff to explain why the city was paying for repairs so soon after completion and asked whether there was a warranty or whether the contractor should be responsible. Staff and the project engineer said the geotechnical report and the project specifications called for lime-treated subgrade, geogrid and other standard mitigation measures and that expansive soils in the area, together with recent wet/dry cycles, cause contraction/expansion cracking even on properly constructed pavements. Staff said material testing and compaction reports show the work met specifications and that the cracks were of the separation type rather than structural alligator failure.
Council members asked about adding ribbon curb or other roadway-edge improvements to mitigate future cracking; staff estimated adding ribbon curb in the corridor would cost roughly $500,000 and said the cost far exceeded the current change order. Council voted to authorize the change order; the vote carried (council recorded as approving the action). Staff said the project retains remaining contingency for related items and that they will provide geotechnical testing results on request.
Ending: Council approved the change order and staff said they would provide geotechnical test reports and continue to monitor the roads. Councilmembers asked staff to consider whether different design standards (for example, ribbon curb) should be specified on future packages to reduce similar repairs.
