Name of project: West Jordan City Center Mill and Overlay

Project location: 825 W. Rosa Parks Drive

Project start: Sept. 20, 2021

Project completion: Sept. 29, 2021

Tons of hot mix asphalt mixed: Approximately 1,500 tons

Each spring, the West Jordan Streets crew coordinates with the Capital Projects Group to mill and overlay selected streets throughout the city. The milling operation is contracted with outside parties, although West Jordan provides the trucks and drivers to transport the asphalt millings. The Capital Projects Group also contracts other work, such as lowering utilities and substandard ADA ramp replacements. The Concrete Crew goes through the mill and overlay candidates in advance, and it pumps or replaces gutters to correct gutters that do not flow properly. West Jordan typically contracts striping work unless it is minor because the city doesn’t have the staff or equipment for large striping jobs.

West Jordan’s paving quantities are minute compared to paving contractors who work on large paving projects for UDOT and other transportation agencies. However, the staff is also responsible for the city’s maintenance tasks throughout the year, such as pothole repair, utility cut restorations, signs, striping, sidewalk issues, gutter issues, special projects, and garbage container maintenance. In addition, 2021 was not the city’s most productive year for paving. The pandemic caused purchasing delays, staffing challenges, and other issues. That said, the in-house staff still placed approximately 10,672 tons of asphalt in 2021 despite the pandemic.

Out of the multiple roads milled and overlaid last season, the focus for the small project was at the city center, 1825 W. and Rosa Parks Drive. The city center is adjacent to City Hall, the West Jordan Police Department, a fire station, and the West Jordan Courthouse. However, those aren’t the only offices on those roads. This portion of work also impacted other locations. A partial list includes a bank, multiple apartment buildings, a Salt Lake County Health Center, the Justice Division for the Salt Lake County Attorney’s office, the 3rd District Court in West Jordan, the Salt Lake County Library for West Jordan, and a large city park, the Veterans Memorial Park.

As anyone involved in paving knows, many eyes watch paving jobs. Considering the businesses and government buildings around the site, it was almost as if staff were onstage.

As mentioned, the staff contracts work to lower utilities and replace ADA ramps before the staff coordinates the milling operation and hauls millings. Defective concrete gutter is pumped or replaced by the concrete crew. The paving staff consists of 12 employees with experience ranging from less than one year to over 20 years of paving experience. Of course, West Jordan had to deal with COVID-related illnesses and absences, just as everyone else had to last year, which added to the group’s challenges.

Almost any paving job has challenges involving labor, equipment, materials, and traffic control. All of the streets on the proposed list had challenges, but the work at the city center last year was the most challenging work done on rehabilitated roads. The team had to deal with the location, surrounding businesses, and governmental agencies that needed access throughout our project, and the constraints of narrow roads requiring detours instead of shifting traffic.