Riverview to consider $29,000 pilot of proprietary jet-patching road repair on Park East

City officials on Monday heard from TriStar Step Tech and city engineers about a jet-patching road-repair method and were asked to consider a $29,000 pilot to address joint failures on Park East between Sibley Road and the cul-de-sac.

"The big thing about us with StepTek is it's waterproofing the bottom layer," said Jaltela, the TriStar project manager, explaining that the company mills to a dense subgrade, sprays a sealing emulsion and then injects aggregate and emulsion from the bottom up to fill voids. He said that approach allows lanes to reopen the same day and reduces repeated cold-patch maintenance.

City engineering staff framed the presentation as a pilot step before recommending full work to the council. The city engineer (speaker 4) said TriStar had been asked to present so members could see the proprietary method before a formal agenda item. "If it works, we'll extend it elsewhere in the city," the city engineer said.

TriStar representatives showed photos from pilot projects in Dearborn and Wayne County and said repairs had held for one to three years under heavy use. The company said it offers one year of maintenance and that comparable full reconstruction of the corridor would run about $370,000 to $550,000. "We're looking at a $29,000 pilot that protects a multimillion-dollar asset for the roads," the TriStar project manager said.

Council members asked about environmental and material safety. A council member asked whether the emulsion could affect the water table; TriStar said the product is an asphalt-type emulsion and that their StepTek spray is intended to prevent infiltration. "It's just like using asphalt on roads," Jaltela said.

Members also pressed on procurement implications because the technology is proprietary and not widely available locally. The city engineer acknowledged that the product cannot be competitively bid in the usual way and said staff would bring an agenda item that declares the pilot is in the city's best interest if the council wants to proceed. "We'll bring it as an agenda item to award the appropriate bid for the best benefit of the city at that point," the city engineer said.

A Riverview resident and company representative, Mike Begoon, who the company introduced as the company—s president, offered to pay to repair the joints adjacent to his home and said the company could price the pilot competitively; staff said the city would cover work beyond the resident—s frontage if the pilot is approved. Staff characterized the measure as preventative maintenance to extend pavement life until money is available for full replacement.

Next steps: staff will prepare a formal agenda item for the council to consider awarding a pilot contract or declaring that the proprietary product is in the city's best interest for a limited pilot. The presentation concluded with no formal vote.