Big Bear Lake, CA, October 9, 2013 – Improvements in the Village will take a little longer than planned. In order to adequately pave the streets, the engineering contractor, Matich Corporation, will need two separate days of roadway closures: Wednesday/October 16th on Village Drive and Thursday/October 17th on Pine Knot. Closure times will be 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day, with vehicles allowed back on the road that evening.
City of Big Bear Lake staff originally hoped to pave the Village L without closing the streets to automobile traffic, but LOR Consultants and independent geotechnical engineers strongly advised against doing bi-lateral paving of half widths of the Village L roads.
The main problem identified was the potential faulty joint crown or centerline of the road given two separate pours of asphalt on different days, different mixing compositions and likely different weather conditions. Properties of asphalt are unlike concrete and are not as accommodating for a joint seal to form the roadway crown. A secondary problem is the safety risk of inadequate roadway space to operate the asphalt laying machinery, equipment and personnel necessary to construct the roadway, and still provide constricted public vehicular access.
To mitigate the one day loss of normal customer access, a parking, walking and signage plan will guide eastbound visitors to the Bartlett Parking Lot, and westbound visitors to the Knickerbocker Parking Lot. In addition, Big Bear Blvd approaches will be enhanced, and Village sidewalks will be remain open.
City Manager Jeff Mathieu held a community meeting in the Village October 1 to explain the remaining weeks of construction, including the final paving plan. Approximately 30 business and property owners attended.
All paving will be completed on the Village “L” on Thursday 10/17/13. If you have any questions, please feel free to call the City at (909) 866-5831.
Summary of Paving Plan:
Thursday, 10/10/13 and Friday, 10/11/13 – Cold Planing of the road (a process of preparing the street for overlaying by “scarifying” it). There will be intermittent stopping of traffic from 7a to 5p.
Monday, 10/14/13 – Crack sealing – This is to seal the old asphalt and to ensure water does not get in between the new and old surfaces and prevent cracks from mirroring through the new asphalt. There will be intermittent temporary stopping of traffic from 7a.m. to 3p.m.
Tuesday, 10/15/13, – Edge grinding – Crews will grind the edges of the existing pavement to ensure the new concrete is not damaged and to match new pavement elevations. There will be intermittent temporary stopping of traffic from 7a.m. to 3p.m.
Wednesday, 10/16/13 – Final Village Drive paving – Full street closure on Village Drive between Paine Road and Pine Knot Avenue to pave Village Drive between Paine Road and Bartlett (west to east) from 7a.m. to 5pm
Thursday, 10/17/13 – Final Pine Knot paving – Full street closure on Village Drive between Bartlett and Pine Knot Avenue (west to east a.m. only) and full street closure on Pine Knot Ave between Big Bear Boulevard and Village Drive (north to south) from 7a.m. to 5pm.
