County Supervisors awarded a multi-million-dollar roads contract to make repairs across SLO County but Estero Bay communities won’t see even a slobber of slurry put on their roads.
On July 28, Supervisors were asked to approve a more than $4.55 million contract with Doolittle Const., Inc., for the annual Surface Treatment Countywide ADA Ramp Improvements Project, according to a report from Kevin Jones, a County Engineer III.
This year’s work will be done in the unincorporated towns of San Miguel, Templeton, Cambria and Nipomo, according to Jones’ report.
The paving program includes a lot of soft costs that bring the overall project budget up to $5.01 million. The vote included a money transfer from the Road Maintenance Fund for $1.45 million into the specific project fund to cover the costs.
Doolittle was the lowest of six bids the County got on the project. Pavement Coatings, Co., bid $4.57M; VSS International, Inc., came in at $5.09M; American Asphalt South, Inc., was at $5.21M; Dryco bid $5.34M; and American Pavement Systems was at $5.68M.
Doolittle’s bid came in 7.27% below the County engineers estimate for the work.
“This FY 2025-26 surface treatment contract,” Jones said, “is a part of Public Works annual pavement maintenance plan, which provides micro and slurry surfacing of existing roads to extend the service life of the pavement to reduce time spent by the road crews on pavement patching.
“This work is necessary to slow the deterioration of these paved roads, and to improve safety and operation.”
The project will see the resurfacing of some 34 total miles of County maintained roads in San Miguel, Templeton, Cambria and Nipomo. No roads in Los Osos or Cayucos — Estero Bay News’ unincorporated coverage area — are included.
The County will be doing some of the prep work for this project. Jones said, “County crews prepare the road surface by filling any potholes and sealing cracks in the pavement.
“The contractor will remove any raised pavement markings, apply the micro or slurry surfacing, re-stripe the road and re-install raised pavement markings.”
By sharing the work, the County says it can get more done. “This combination of multiple project delivery methods and work forces,” Jones said, “is part of the Pavement Management Plan maintenance strategy to increase the overall miles of roadway treated each year.”
The County last year approved the list of roads slated to get worked on this time around, and staff submitted it to Caltrans to receive Senate Bill 1 (SB 1) monies. SB 1 increased gasoline taxes and vehicle registration fees to raise money for road maintenance and other infrastructure projects.
The County spent some of the annual SB 1 allocations on other projects, including a major bridge replacement underway now in Los Osos.
“Due to funds distributed to other County priorities, including the South Bay Boulevard Bridge replacement,” Jones said, “these 34-miles of surface treatment is downsized from the originally planned 40+ miles of surface treatment and 12-miles of new pavement overlay. No overlay paving projects are planned for County roads with FY 2025-26 funds.”
