Lodoga Stonyford Road Pavement Distress Evaluation and Road Rehabilitation

Location

Little Stony Creek Bridge on Lodoga Stonyford Road to the intersection with Sites Lodoga Road

City or County Responsible for Project

Colusa County

Category

Roads: Efficient and Sustainable Road Maintenance, Construction and Reconstruction Projects.

Author

Michael Azevedo

Organization

Colusa County Department of Public Works

Address

1215 Market Street, Colusa, CA 95932

Phone

(530) 458-0466

Project Description

The Lodoga Stonyford Road Rehabilitation project involved an evaluation for potential causes of pavement distress and the design for reconstruction of an 11,167-foot section of a rural two-lane road. The project began at the Little Stony Creek Bridge on Lodoga Stonyford Road on the west extending to the intersection with Sites Lodoga Road on the east. Fire suppression equipment damaged the road while accessing wildfire areas. The project utilized a Full Depth Reclamation (FDR) strategy, which is noted as a sustainable process by the Save California Streets Program. The end product resulted in a reliable and well-maintained local road that will provide safe passage for emergency, farming, truck transport, and personal vehicles.

MGE Engineering initially provided geotechnical services to evaluate potential causes for the underlying pavement distress. MGE’s scope of services included logging and sampling six test pits to approximately a 5-foot depth, Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) testing within the roadway pavement section at six locations, geotechnical laboratory testing, engineering analyses, and submitting a geotechnical report with recommendations for pavement repair alternatives. Site exploration was scaled down to concentrate on the distressed areas since shallow rock was present in some locations along the road. Distress was related to poor compaction, thin aggregate base sections, localized poor subgrade, and concentrated loads from emergency vehicles and equipment during wildfire suppression efforts. Services were completed within 1.5 months from notice to proceed and included coordination with County road maintenance crews who provided traffic control during test pit excavations.

After the geotechnical services were completed, the County tasked MGE with completing plans, specifications, and estimates for the reconstruction. MGE provided civil design services for the FDR and completed the PS&E within 2 months to facilitate construction within the remaining construction season. The improvements included 48 conforms at residential driveways, ranch/farmland entrances, and the main entrance to a ranchland subdivision. These plans included the necessary details to reconstruct the roadway pavement section using FDR with an asphalt overlay, corrections to roadway cross-slopes, and shoulder drainage improvements. FDR saved the County 19% in construction cost when compared to other potential solutions, such as: Reclaimed AC Pavement (RAP), Cold in place recycling (CIR), Hot in place recycling (HIPR), Cold central plant recycling, Rubberized AC (RAC), and Rubber Hot Mix Asphalt (RHMA).

The project is partially funded through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). MGE coordinated with the USDA NRCS to include federal specifications and bid items within the bid package to conform with grant requirements.