Marin Lagoon

The challenge

The Marin Lagoon project was performed for the Marin Lagoon HOA in San Rafael via Reliable Pavement Services and consisted of miscellaneous concrete pavement repairs, 43,000 SF of 4-inch-deep repairs, and 1,400 SF of 1.5-inch asphalt overlays to alleviate low spots causing drainage issues.

Standing water is one of the worst things that can happen to asphalt. Water that can't drain works its way down into the aggregate base and softens it, and then the pavement above starts to fail from the bottom up, not just on the surface.

At Marin Lagoon, the low spots holding water were the real problem. Replacing pavement in those areas at the same elevations would have brought the puddles right back, and the community would be paying to fix them again.

How it was executed

We rebuilt the areas that had already failed at a full 4-inch depth, 43,000 SF in total, with asphalt repairs sized to the damage.

We handled the low spots separately. Rather than rebuild them, we placed 1,400 SF of 1.5-inch overlay to lift those areas back up and get water flowing toward the drains again. That fixes the ponding for a fraction of the cost of a rebuild.

We also completed the concrete pavement repairs alongside the asphalt work, since the concrete gutters and drainage features decide where water goes once it leaves the asphalt.

The result

Four days on site to rebuild the failed areas and clear the ponding out of the community, so the next wet winter doesn't start the same failures over again.