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Summer slurry sealing begins this week

Greyson Howard
Sierra Sun

The Town of Truckee begins the slurry sealing of many town streets today, narrowing or closing roads for surface improvements as part of an annual summer program.

Roughly 30 miles, or about 20 percent of the town’s roadways in the downtown, Glenshire, Olympic Heights, Ponderosa, Fairway Estates, Prosser Lake Heights, and Tahoe Donner areas will be receiving the seal treatment over the next three to four weeks. Closures or delays along each road being sprayed are expected to last only one day.

“The slurry seal goes down pretty quickly, and depending on the temperature outside, it is ready to drive on in four to six hours,” said Dan Wilkins, director of public works.



Where possible, maintenance crews will work on a street one lane at a time, allowing local access for people who live on that street, but directing through-traffic elsewhere, Wilkins said.

The process, which involves spraying an oil emulsion combined with sand on the street surface, is a type of preventative maintenance used to extend the life of local roads, he said.



The town slurry seals heavily traveled roads, and those in the Truckee Special Service Areas of Glenshire and Tahoe Donner every three years, Wilkins said, and the rest every five years, rotating through different parts of town each summer construction season.

Glenshire and Tahoe Donner are sealed more often because they are special service areas that collect additional funding from property taxes for road maintenance and transportation, said General Manager Geoff Stephens of the Glenshire Devonshire Residents Association.

In the Glenshire area, which is scheduled to receive much of this year’s work, Stephens said the biggest inconvenience is having to move cars off the street from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., but otherwise the project doesn’t significantly interfere with traffic circulation.

“Our roads are in great shape because of the three-year overlay; it has been very helpful for us,” Stephens said.

This season’s work is expected to cost $475,000, Wilkins said, reduced from the original $1.1 million of planned work.


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