Pavement Management Program

Pavement deterioration is cumulative. Factors including weather, traffic, and frequency of maintenance all contribute to a road's longevity. Lee’s Summit’s Pavement Management Program is used to maintain or restore paved road surfaces, add structural capacity, and improve riding comfort and skid resistance. While newly overlaid roads are aesthetically pleasing, roads are not overlaid to improve appearance.

Scheduled maintenance programs include:

Crack sealing: applying asphalt rubber into the crack to seal it and prevent water from getting into the street.
Curb Replacement: replace offset, damaged, or deteriorated curb, prior to an overlay.
Slurry Seal: a thin layer of aggregate, oil and asphalt binders are mixed together and spread over the existing pavement.
UltraThin Bonded Wearing Course (NOVA): utilizes the best of the Slurry Seal and Overlay processes, it is a thin asphalt layer placed directly on existing arterial pavements.
Overlay: milling off the top 1.5 to 2 inches of the street and replacing it with fresh asphalt to seal and revitalize the street.

Streets included in our annual resurfacing projects are carefully evaluated and inspected under the guidelines of our Pavement Management Program. Other repairs are made based on reports of problems from residents. Funding for the Pavement Management Program is made available through the ½-cent transportation sales tax.

If you have questions regarding the City’s pavement management program or the priorities for pavement repairs, surface sealing, and overlays, contact the Public Works Operations Division office at (816) 969-1870.

Crack Sealing

Crackseal Asphalt pavement by design is flexible to accommodate the freeze/thaw cycles of our climate. Subsequently, cracking will occur in relatively new pavement and continue throughout its life due to age, traffic, weather, etc. Crack "sealing" is the placement of a rubberized sealant in the crack that will provide a protective coating and seal out water. If the cracks are not maintained, the cracks can ravel and increase in size. Crack sealing is the most common maintenance option used to help protect the pavements integrity. It is often placed in advance of overlays and surface treatments to improve performance.
In addition to proper material preparation and application, a critical step in crack preparation is cleaning and drying the crack. After the cracks are cleaned and dried, using hot compressed air, they are filled with liquid asphalt emulsion. Excess sealant is leveled off at the surface using a squeegee. The air temperature during application should be 32 degrees Fahrenheit and rising. The best time to seal cracks is during the cooler winter months when the cracks are the widest (October-March).

Curb Replacement

In advance of the annual overlay program, Public Works hires a construction contractor to replace a specific amount of curbing each year, for both residential and arterial streets. For curb problems not included in the replacement contract, the Maintenance Division sends out a crew to patch the curb with asphalt until a permanent fix can be made.

Ultra Thin Bonded Wearing Surface

Ultra Thin Bonded Wearing Surface is a specially formulated thin asphalt mix overlay. The thickness ranges from 1/2 to 3/4 in. The Ultra Thin Bonded Wearing Surface is placed on arterial streets that have minor amounts of surface distress. Ultra-thin bonded wearing surface is placed with a specially built machine that places a thick layer of oil and asphalt in a single pass. The heavy oil application seals small cracks in the existing pavement and helps to ensure the adhesion of the asphalt to the underlying pavement. The primary function of the ultra-thin bonded wearing course is to provide a durable, friction resistant surface on existing pavement, without the expense of milling the existing asphalt.

Slurry Seal

Slurry seal is a surface treatment designed to extend the life of existing pavements by filling surface cracks and voids, sealing weather tight, and adding texture and uniform appearance to the street. Slurry Seal uses pre-mixed slurry of rock, polymer asphalt binders, cement, and filler materials to seal the entire roadway at a depth of less than 1/4inch.
Slurry Seal requires 4-6 hours to setup before traffic can drive over it, but it takes in excess of 48 hours before it is completely cured. Immediately following application of the slurry seal, vehicles are not allowed on the new surface. Once the street has been reopened, traffic and large vehicles, such as garbage trucks, may leave scuff marks on the surface, this is normal, and as more traffic drives over the surface these marks will flatten out and the surface should appear uniform.

In addition, there may be small surface rocks that will roll off into the gutter. This is also normal, and contractor will sweep up the excess aggregate within 2 weeks following the completion of the project.

Overlay

During an overlay project, residents must remove all vehicles from the street. If curb is present the old pavement will be milled along each edge so that when the overlay is applied the surface of the new pavement will be aligned with the gutter. The street is then sprayed with a thin layer of asphalt called a tack coat to ensure the new pavement will adhere to the old pavement. Once the overlay is applied, it would be ideal for traffic to be kept off the new pavement for at least four (4) hours. However, traffic may travel on a newly paved roadway after it has been rolled once, but is normally reopened following a second rolling. Sharp turning movements on the new surface must be avoided until the pavement has had a chance to cure. Operations are performed to ensure at least one lane of traffic remains open at all times.