Trench excavations within pavement surfaces are necessary for the installation and maintenance of in ground facilities. Unfortunately, to varying degrees these excavations are always detrimental to the pavement surfaces and the resulting patches in newer pavement surfaces often results in public concerns. County Code section 12.09 prohibits excavations in pavement surfaces less than 3 year old. The Right of Way Management Section coordinates construction work within the roadway in order to minimize excavations in these new pavement surfaces. In practice however, it is often difficult to prevent these pavement excavations when there are no other practical ways of proceeding. To address this problem, the Department of Transportation established a policy requiring a slurry seal surfacing on half of the roadway at locations affected by the excavation for a minimum total length of 1,000 feet. This slurry seal policy was established to minimize the detrimental affects of the excavation in newer pavement surfaces and to also hide the patch by creating a uniform appearance of the pavement.
County Code section 12.09 also established a trench cut fee associated with the diminished value of the pavement surface following excavation and pavement restoration. These fees are used for future pavement repairs associated with pavement excavations. In lieu of paying the required trench cut fee, franchised utilities doing business in Sacramento County can enter into an agreement holding the utility responsible for any future repairs to the trench associated with the utility installation.
Visit the Right of Way Management web page for more information on other section activities.
Additional Information
Call 311 or 875-4311 or send an email to sacco311@custhelp.com.
