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Roads gifted with spa treatment, its amenities

In late fall, the city sprayed oil and spread sand on some of the streets in town. What was that all about, and can you check to make sure that the stuff is safe? After a rainstorm, I saw some slicks moving down the gutter toward the Animas. Sign me, Pete Rolium

It was a pampering spa day for some lucky local roads.

Well, sort of.

Let’s let our good friend Levi Lloyd, the city of Durango’s street superintendent, explain.

“That product is an asphalt rejuvenator. It brings back flexibility to the surface and prolongs the life of the road,” he said. “It’s kind of like a moisturizer for the pavement.”

Levi assured that the street TLC did not include new-age flute music, candles, a soft bathrobe and fuzzy slippers.

However, there was some powerful aromatherapy going on. But not in the form of mountain sage, French lavender or lemon verbena.

The smell of tar hung over many a neighborhood for several days, with several citizens taking olfactory umbrage.

“You’re right. When it’s first applied, the asphalt rejuvenator is tacky and smelly,” Levi confirmed.

How perfect is that? Not only are the roads “tacky and smelly,” but the same could be said of many Durangoans who use them. But that’s another matter.

Meanwhile, back at the spa: The asphalt rejuvenator is “a positively charged surface treatment,” Levi said. (So you see the streets are getting moisturizer with lot of positive energy.)

After application, sand is applied immediately after to blot up any excess product. Then, following several hours of traffic-free rest, street sweepers come and provide a cleansing scrub.

Our streets deserve some indulgences, and Levi and his crew did it for way less money than in the past.

“It’s the first time we’ve done asphalt rejuvenation here,” Levi said. “But there are 35 years of studies showing that it works. We can get at least five or more years of life out of the road with this application.”

The city formerly maintained roads with chip and seal, a process in which really thick oil is spewed over the road and gravel spread across it. Cars and traffic smash the gravel into the surface, but the aggregate often ends up on the side of the road or in the middle lane and needs to be removed.

“It’s a messy process that’s fine for rural areas, but it destroys our sweeper machines,” Levi said.

There’s also a matter of cost. The oil-sand treatment is about half the cost of chip and seal, coming in at $1.40 per square yard versus roughly $3 for chip and seal.

To replace asphalt, the city would have to fork over $17 per square yard, Levi said.

“We’re happy with the product, and it’s good to spend money now rather than down the road, so to speak,” Levi said.

As for the glistening slicks headed to the river, it’s not exactly the Exxon Valdez or the Deepwater Horizon.

Levi pointed to the sand. It soaked up the excess material, and most sand was swept away. Any sand remaining in the street is a binder.

“What your question-asker probably saw was the usual road and car oils that run off every time it rains,” he said. “Those pretty rainbows in the parking lots after it rains are the same thing.”

So there you have it: We have a spa day, an application of moisturizer, a round of aromatherapy, some dermabrasion and exfoliating sand scrub and then a rainbow.

Life is good. The perfect Durango day. If only the roads could enjoy a lovely late-afternoon glass of chardonnay and salad. Then it’s off to the gala fundraiser and silent auction.

Email questions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. You can request anonymity if you urge the City Council to adopt an organic management plan for the streets and use kelp powder and molasses to control potholes.



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