Street Rebuild: 10th Avenue

Project scope: Mill three inches of existing pavement, asphalt overlay, seal joints Location: 10th Avenue from Vilas Street to Michigan Street General Contract: McAnany Construction in the amount of $478,229.49. Damage to 10th Avenue has been noticeable to residents in 2019. Because of the severity of deteriorating road conditions, the City acted immediately to add this project to the same bond issuance that provided funding for Thornton Street. Background: When the street was built in the 1990s, the aggregate used in the concrete absorbed water. It caused two problems: 1) a reaction between the concrete and some of the aggregate particles that creates a gel in the cracks; and 2) the water gets in the cracks, which freezes and expands and destroys concrete from the joints. This was a problem not just statewide, but throughout the midwest. Tests were done that showed a alkali-silica reaction in these types of building materials. In 2013, the City of Leavenworth repaired the worst joints and a thin mill overlay of asphalt was placed on the road. A hard winter in 2018-19 caused the deterioration to accelerate. For the 2019 10th Avenue repairs, contractors will scrape away 3 inches of the deteriorating asphalt. They will replace it with a higher quality asphalt 3” deep and then saw joints in the pavement and seal them. The new project is based on a

similar project that the Kansas Department of Transportation has been used on Interstate 70, where it has been in place six years and is holding up well. Project is scheduled to begin in August 2019 and last a couple of months. There will be lane closures and reduced traffic. Unfortunately, this will mean additional traffic at Leavenworth High School when classes begin. The City of Leavenworth has met with USD 453 school officials to inform them of the road construction and work on a plan.