Spur Ranch Road Update 9:30 pm - 04_04_2012

Dear Neighbors,

As you’ve probably noticed, Spur Ranch Road is easily drivable again. The road rework should be completed tomorrow, and with a bit of luck this ordeal will be behind us. Here’s what’s been happening:

Throughout the day, many dump trucks delivered gravel (about 800 tons of it) and distributed it along the road. The new grader showed up about 10 a.m. and spent the day mixing the new gravel in with the top few inches of road material (the slippery surface mush plus another inch or so of the hard sub-base). At the end of the day, the grader scooped up this mixture and piled it in a long “wind row” along the side of the road.  This left nearly two lanes of the road with a smooth dry base open for traffic during the night.

Tomorrow (Thursday), the grader will distribute the mixture back over the road surface, to a depth of several inches, and shape and crown the road. A water truck will be used to bring the mix up to the correct water concentration, and then a ten-ton roller will compact the surface. This procedure will probably take most of the day, but when it is completed the road will be finished and immediately usable. The engineers believe this compacted mix will be water resistant, with good wet-weather traction. In short, they believe it will be the permanent solution we have been patiently waiting for.

                 We are not planning on having flaggers at the ends of the road tomorrow, so drivers will have to exercise common sense to avoid construction vehicles and oncoming traffic. If possible, we encourage you to use Avenida de las Compadres. We checked the condition of Compadres this afternoon and it is bumpy but dry and quite drivable, even with 2WD vehicles. That said, I wouldn’t drive your Maserati or other low-clearance car along it.

                So basically, we need to hang in there for one more day, and then life should be back to normal.

Regards,

Jim