Repairs, chip seal work begins on Brewster streets

BREWSTER – Work is underway to repair and chip seal several streets in downtown Brewster now that warming spring temperatures will allow the upgrades to proceed.
Brewster Public Works Director Lee Webster said Granite was awarded the bid from the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to perform “chip seal work and do a bunch of repairs for all of Highway 173 also called Bridge Street once it reaches Brewster.”
Webster saw the need to expand the repair efforts to more than just the Bridge Street corridor. Griggs, Hanson, Indian and Jay streets all needed work, Webster said.
“I made some calls to WSDOT last year,” said Webster who wanted to secure its approval for additional work through the Transportation Improvement Board.
Webster said it only made sense to utilize the Granite equipment while it was in the city and forego the time and expense of having Granite or some other contractor return at a later date to do the other work.
“I got the O.K. to do that,” Webster said.
An addendum was added to the master contract to piggyback Webster’s request onto the existing agreement. Consequently, the city benefitted from the cost savings.
“We are paying very little for those repairs and getting the chip seal for zero dollars,” Webster said.
Webster said the chip seal work will have to wait until May owing to temperature guidelines the contractor must follow.
During the actual chip seal application, there can be no vehicles parked on the street shoulders,” said Webster.  “The surface can be driven on within three to four hours after completion of the process, so it’s not an all-day ban.”
Webster said the city will distribute door hangers and notices to advise residents of the parking restrictions as that time becomes more definite.
Current work on repairs to portions of Jay Street revealed that the street base material has degraded to the point that TIB will not pay for chip seal on Jay, Webster said. A TIB representative will join Webster in an inspection of Jay and other city streets to determine those most in need of future repairs.