East Coast Asphalt made short work of repairs needed to complete its contract to pave Bright’s Lake Road early Monday.
According to Liberty County Administrator Joey Brown, the rework was necessary because the pavement, which was first laid last spring, in some sections was not thick enough. He said county commissioners have been talking about the needed rework for months, but the Douglas contractor was waiting for the weather to cooperate.
He was not aware the work was being done on Monday, but said he was glad to hear it.
“We had a couple sections in there that didn’t match the asphalt depth required in order to meet the contract specifications,” Brown said. “So the contractor agreed to come back and rework those sections.”
Brown said the county has not paid for the road paving because of the asphalt thickness issues found during a final inspection. The rework was done at no extra cost to the county, he said.
County Engineer Trent Long said a total of about 1,600 feet of pavement had to be replaced, all of it along the northbound lane of the road. He added that the thin areas were no more than about a quarter inch short of the required asphalt depth.
“The pavement was originally laid in the spring last year,” Long said. “Unfortunately, some areas were just a little too thin. The fix is really a little harder than laying new pavement because they had to first mill up the thin sections earlier this morning. Right now, they’re laying down the new pavement. They should be done this afternoon.”
Long commended the contractor for ensuring the work fulfills the contract. He said this project was one of many completed or currently underway in Liberty County by East Coast Asphalt.