The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Expect the slurry coat seal in June?
Blame it on the weather. If you are counting the minutes until Elk Avenue between Fourth and First streets is free of the blue and the grooves, keep counting. It will now be sometime next week when Elk is returned to a smooth, clean asphalt surface.
The company hired to come in with a 10-foot-wide diamond milling machine has postponed the Crested Butte work from the end of this week to sometime next week. Weather in Denver has delayed the schedule.
“It will happen and it will happen right,” promised Crested Butte public works director Rodney Due. “The delay makes it 99 percent sure that the slurry coat won’t happen until next spring, because you need warm temperatures. But at least we will have a nice, smooth surface and Mosaic [the Whatever USA promotion company] is paying for it.”
The blue paint put down for the Whatever USA party failed when heavy rains came after the party and paint chips flaked off. Due said it doesn’t appear that the remaining blue paint on the street is coming up anymore, with or without the rain.
“Our priority is to make sure Elk Avenue is returned to its normal state and that it is done right,” emphasized Due. “That is taking longer than expected but the machine that can diamond mill the asphalt will make it better. The bright side is that the fall colors will likely be gone and it won’t impact heavy leaf-peeping traffic. It will definitely take place in the shoulder season.”
When work does commence, it is expected to take most of two days and portions of Elk will be closed during that time. The slurry sealing will likely take place sometime in June.
