The City of Lubbock will soon spend an estimated $2.5 million to patch up asphalt streets – mostly in Central and Southwest Lubbock.
Mike Gilliland, City of Lubbock Public Works Superintendent, said the streets chosen for the 2016 asphalt patching project are those in the worst shape – not including concrete roadways which are handled in a separate project.
“We have an in-house crew that works on something called the paving index. They give the pavement a grade. We work on the worst ones,” Gilliland said.
Gilliland described something called “alligator cracking” with cracks every few inches.
“The structure underneath has failed. It’s a complete failure and need to be dug out and redone,” Gilliland said.
Once the work is done, the life expectancy of the street – with proper maintenance – is 25 to 50 years. That maintenance is often in the form of micro-sealing.
The city announced bids for the project recently, and the City Council will choose a contractor on March 24. The project needs to be done with 200 days after a contract is finalized.