226 13th Street, Oakland

The challenge

We reconnected with an old work colleague on this project when he called on us to help wrap up a beautiful new apartment complex encompassing one whole city block in downtown Oakland. The scope of work consisted of a 2-inch grind and pave over four city streets totaling 35,350 SF, and thermoplastic markings over the newly paved streets to delineate traffic lanes.

These weren't private parking lots. The streets were public right-of-way, busy with traffic, transit, deliveries and people on foot, so the resurfacing had to work around all of it.

Work like this falls under the City of Oakland Department of Transportation, and closing all four streets at once was never an option. The paving itself was straightforward. The real job was planning it so the block stayed open.

How it was executed

We sat down with the general contractor and put together a phasing plan that met the City's requirements and still gave our crews room to work. We took the streets one after another instead of all at once, so access stayed open at every stage of the job.

Each section was ground down 2 inches, paved and brought back to grade before we opened up the next one. Once the new asphalt had cured, we applied thermoplastic markings to bring back crisp, clear traffic lanes.

The result

Four streets resurfaced and remarked in just four days, with public access open the whole time and the City's requirements met at every phase. A good way to help an old colleague finish the job.