The City of Mission Viejo several months ago contracted for extensive asphalt patchwork and crack sealing in an east-central neighborhood, but left many deep cracks untouched. The neighborhood is south of La Paz and west of Felipe Rd.-Olympiad Rd.
There is no indication any pavement was removed for large-scale re-compacting of subsoil and aggregate before a whole new layer of asphalt was laid, as was done with a 60-by-90-foot patch on Esgos in southeast Mission Viejo. Rainwater had saturated the subsoil on Esgos, causing cracks to deepen and spread. Both the east central and southeast neighborhoods are slated to be resurfaced next year.
On east-central Atherston, cracks connect large, rectangular sections of new asphalt. The new pavement will be ripped up if the street is resurfaced with asphalt next year. Otherwise it will be recoated with slurry sealing. Click on photos to enlarge.
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- Amberwood
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- Amberwood 2
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- Atherston
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- Atherston 2
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- Darlington
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- Tamarind
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- Tamarind 3
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- Tamarind 2
On Amberwood, a long, unsuccessfully patched crack spread into and through the length of a long stretch of asphalt that was laid several years ago. The new damage indicates that even if streets are resurfaced with several inches of asphalt, cracks eventually will re-appear if subsoil is not first exposed and re-compacted. A maze of nearby cracks on Amberwood were sealed with dark patch, but cracks have already broken through to the left in Amberwood photo 2.
On Darlington, an untouched crack already spread into a new square of asphalt.
On Tamarind, a feeder street, the worst crack in the neighborhood was not repaired. It runs gutter to gutter, up to seven inches deep into the subsoil and up to two inches wide.
About 15 feet away from the deep crack, and also on Tamarind, is an example of a previous poor patching job in which splintered cracks have reappeared after the asphalt was laid. It shows how the City wastes taxpayers money by patching over cracks with poor workmanship.
The photos raise the question of how city inspectors could have approved the contractor’s work.
Atherton and Amberwood, like Esgos, are cul-de-sacs where garbage trucks back across the crowned center several times each week to reach all the garbage cans.
The City was notified by email of the post-repair street conditions on the east-central streets several weeks ago. The cracks were shown to me by a resident, Nicolas Dzepina, who was connected to me through the Dispatch. He had commented on street damage in his neighborhood in my recent Dispatch article on inferior street resurfacing on several streets east of Lake Mission Viejo. Link to Nov. 23 article.
Allan Pilger
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
We have also had substandard slurry sealing and poor quality repair this year.
It seems to me that any work paid for with taxpayers’ money should include standards that require the work to be done correctly. And it is obvious that the work did not resolve the problem. Therefore, it was not done correctly and/or requires someone who knows what they’re doing to figure out what needs to be done. Any work being contracted out should include compliance standards and recourse when results such as these occur.
Overall the streets in Mission Viejo are in good shape. What I have noticed is that many of these failures are a result of settlement from previous construction work. Often roads are cut to install utilities such as cable TV, water or gas lines. I have worked over thirty years in pipeline operations and construction and have experience in this matter. Proper soil compaction, use of the right equipment and assuring good inspection during construction eliminates the problem of cracking and settlement. Many cities place construction moratoriums on newly paved streets for this reason. Once lifted they require high soil compaction requirements for future work. Things we should consider to help maintain the “California Promise”.
This just begs the question,” where are the city inspectors, and just what are their processes and procedures?”
Recently a good citizen of Mission Viejo asked this of our city administration and was “philibustered” on the supposed “Processes and Procedures.” In reality he was shown the industry Greenbook, which is nothing more than specifications, NOT processes and procedures on street maintenance and care.
Another citizen asked for a review of his street repair/maintenance. So far there have been delays and excuses by city staff–and No meeting.
Does Mission Viejo have a viable street maintenance program? The above provided pictures are the answer.
I believe that the City of Mission Viejo is being so short sighted on these asphalt repairs. We have similar repairs almost every year in our cul-de-sac but the REAL problem is never really solved to it just keeps happening. If the inspectors were doing there job, they would discover that underground the sewer lines are all clogged with roots from trees and water under the street is probably causing the cracks to open up every year. Just a thought…….
For another example of improper oversight and management of contractors, drive on Olympiad between Alicia and Jeronimo. You might think your car has a severe suspension defect if you do not know it is the improper paving work.
Interesting that so many have this same problem. Our street had a happy ending, though, after 15 years of huge fissures in the street, numerous emails to the City with photos of my fingers stuck in the crack up to my palm and bicycle tires fitting inside the cracks, slurry repairs that lasted about two weeks, etc. In 2011 they actually ground the street down, and repaired it from the bottom up. It has been 8 months and the street still looks smooth as a baby’s bottom. But, believe me, we had to endure 15 years of San Andreas fault cracks. Proper repairs CAN be done and SHOULD be done.