Background

A few days ago, Stearns Park area homeowner Traci Wilson-Kleekamp emailed us pictures of part of 23d St. between Lakewood Blvd. and Clark Ave., showing parts of the street had cracked despite being resurfaced not too long ago. On July 7, we phoned LB's Dept. of Public Works and described the situation (without mentioning Ms. Wilson-Kleekamp or showing the pictures). By July 8, the city staffer in charge had driven out to the site and agreed something needed to be done. The good news is below. We rarely miss a chance to put a thumb in a Councilmember's eye, but we don't think that's called for here. Councilmembers budget money and expect the work will be done well. When something turns out otherwise, we think it's worth reporting -- and praiseworthy -- when city staff checks it out, acknowledges the problem and moves to correct it. Meanwhile, city staff is looking into the exact cause of the problem (it could be a number of things)...and when that's determined, we'll report it too.

(July 9, 2003) -- Part of 23d St. between Lakewood Blvd. and Clark Ave. will be resurfaced to deal with cracks and other problems that have appeared in part the roadway. LBReport.com contacted LB's Dept. of Public Works after a reader brought the situation to our attention, including the pictures on this page. LB's Public Works Dept. put us in touch with Mr. Gillis Monroe, Construction Service Officer for the City of LB, who said a project to reconstruct parts of 23d St. was undertaken about a year ago.

Photo: Traci W. Kleekamp

Photo: Traci W. Kleekamp

Part of 23d St. needed extensive work and all of the asphalt was taken out...but other parts of the road didn't appear as bad...and in these areas about a half inch of pavement was milled off and overlaid with a new layer of asphalt. Both measures are more extensive than the "slurry seal" applied when streets are in better shape.

After hearing about the problem, Mr. Monroe promptly went into the field, took a look and got back to us within a day. "It's apparent the subgrade below the asphalt payment has failed," he said...and indicated the city will be taking a close look at what happened to find the cause (he indicated it could be number of things, still undertemined).

Meanwhile, a remedy is moving ahead. Mr. Monroe indicated that a project currently going out for bid on reconstruction of Stearns St. between Lakewood Blvd. and Los Coyotes Diagonal will now include an addendum making 23d St. work part of the bid.

He also indicated workers will be zero'ing in on the exact cause of what happened (which nobody wants repeated)...and said he'll pass that along. (LBReport.com promised to report it.)

Good!