Street Slurry Seal Project Delayed by Rain Forecast

San Anselmo Town Manager Debbie Stutsman  about upcoming plans to apply slurry sealant to the streets of San Anselmo. Originally scheduled for Oct. 3-7, the forecast of rain over the weekend has caused town officials to delay the project by one week; it's now set to begin Monday, Oct. 10.

"Slurry sealing is a coating applied to roads in good condition to prolong their life,” she reported in her blog. “Access to streets and driveways during the work will be limited. In order to accommodate the work there will be some loss of street parking. When the work commences, there will be some traffic delays or street closures.”

The rescheduled project means that the announced San Anselmo Police Department that they would not enforce overnight parking violations during the week of the slurry seal project. "Requests for Overnight Parking enforcement can still be made," the announcement read, "but will not be enforced until after the moratorium has ended." Presumably the same moratorium will be in effect the week of Oct. 10 - 16, if the project occurs then.

But what is “slurry seal,” and how much will it affect day-to-day life in San Anselmo – and up Sir Francis Drake Blvd. to the Fairfax border, which will be the first stage of the five-day project?

“Think of slurry as an Industrial Grade Asphalt Surfacing,” advises the website of contractor CPM Pavement, based in Sacramento.

Their website continues: “Slurry Seal is a cold-mix paving system that can remedy a broad range of problems on streets, airfields, parking lots and driveways…The principal materials used to create slurry seal are aggregate, asphalt emulsion and fillers, which are mixed together according to a laboratory's design mix formula.”

In response to further questions from Patch, Stutsman elaborated. “It seals the cracks and keeps water from going into cracks and deteriorating the roadway.  Because we have roads that are in good shape, this is a way to ensure that they will last longer.”

Traffic should be able to return to the roads as early as two hours after coverage, but it will still be affected: the schedule for slurry application runs Monday through Friday, between 7:30 a.m and 5:00 p.m.

“Work times will be set around commute times to minimize traffic congestion,” Stutsman said. “Residents on streets to be slurried will be noticed in advance so they can move cars.”  The city’s web page on the project states that residents and businesses will be contacted 48 hours prior to work by posting a door hanger with date and time of the anticipated work in your area.

It’s not a small job. Almost one million square feet of asphalt will be covered by the project, approximately 954,400 sq. feet to be more accurate. Funds for the project come from the Road Maintenance fund, Stuntsman noted; “the interest earned in the past from Measure G bonds were earmarked for slurry seals."

The first two days of work (now set for Oct. 10-11) will be along Sir Francis Drake Blvd, just over 100,000 sq. feet per day; the other three days will be on residential and business streets in San Anselmo.

Whenever it takes place, it sounds like some disruption in traffic and residential inconvenince is inevitable. But, as Stutsman reminds us, “The process is quick and the drying time is short.”

See accompanying maps and schedules (in PDF form) with this article or on the city page cited above.