Richmond Municipal Code Part 2 Streets and Paving

In addition to the requirements in Sections 12.30.020 through 12.30.110, above, the following shall be required for permits involving streets and paving, including but not limited to excavations.

(a) Newly constructed or resurfaced streets shall be termed "prohibition streets" within this section. Permission to excavate in prohibition streets will not be granted for five years following street-overlay completion; an overlay is at least one-half-inch-thick asphalt layer. For streets with chip seal, slurry seal coating, or micro paving with less than one-half-inch of new pavement, the prohibition period shall be three years. Permittees shall perform advanced planning to determine alternate methods of necessary repairs to avoid excavating in newly resurfaced streets. Exceptions to the above policy are:

(1) Emergencies endangering life or property.

(2) Interruption of essential utility service.

(3) Work mandated by City, State, or Federal law(s).

(4) Building service where no other reasonable means of providing service exists.

(5) Situations in which no alternative course of action exists, as determined by the City Engineer in writing and setting forth facts concluding that no alternative exists.

(b) Prohibition street excavations shall require a waiver.

(1) To request a waiver, permittee shall submit a written request to the City Engineer that includes all the following:

(A) Excavation location;

(B) Description of the work to be performed;

(C) Reason(s) the work was not performed before the street was paved;

(D) Reason(s) the work cannot be deferred until after the prohibition period;

(E) Reason(s) the work cannot be performed at another location; and

(F) Reason(s) that justify the excavation of a prohibition street.

(2) Any prohibition street excavations will be repaired with full lane-width paving on the street as follows (refer also to Section 12.30.150, Paving):

(A) Overlaid or reconstructed streets: All lanes that are affected shall be ground down two inches and repaved with two inches of asphalt concrete, or all affected lanes shall be resurfaced pursuant to Section 12.30.150, Paving.

(B) Slurry sealed, chip sealed, or micro surfaced streets: All affected lanes shall be resurfaced pursuant to Section 12.30.150, Paving.

(C) If a lateral-cut excavation, a minimum of one foot on either side of the trench shall be resurfaced. For longitudinal trenches, the entire length shall be resurfaced plus one foot on either end.

(D) Exception: Full lane-width restoration shall not be required if either of the following applies:

(i) The work is not defined as an excavation in Section 12.30.010.

(ii) The work is performed on behalf of a low-income household to bring an owner-occupied, single-family residence into compliance with sanitary sewer regulations at any time other than as part of the residence's sale. Low-income is defined as 80 percent of area median family income. This exception's purpose is to prevent hardship to property owners with limited means, and it shall be interpreted and applied solely to achieve that purpose.

(3) Before a permit issues for prohibition street work, City Engineer will verify that applicant analyzed all feasible alternatives for necessary repairs using a trenchless method in prohibition streets to avoid excavating a newly resurfaced street whenever possible.

(Ord. No. 09-22 N.S., § 1, 6-28-2022)

(a) Pavement shall be cut to a straight, neat, vertical line prior to excavation.

(b) All excavated material shall be removed from the job site within 24 hours.

(c) Every trench shall be backfilled or covered by trench plates daily. The City may issue administrative citations or may pursue other legal remedies if trenches are improperly covered or not backfilled in a timely manner. Backfill must meet the requirements specified in Section 12.30.140.

(Ord. No. 09-22 N.S., § 1, 6-28-2022)

(a) Trenches shall be backfilled with Class 2 Aggregate Base as specified in the Caltrans Standard Specifications Section 26, "Aggregate Base" or suitable material as required by the City's Standard Plans and Specifications. Backfill compaction shall accord with the City's Standards.

(b) When undermining occurs, existing pavement shall be removed as required to compact the backfill and to restore pavement.

(c) An independent laboratory shall certify compaction tests. The test results shall be submitted to the City Engineer who may require the Contractor to recompact and retest until the test results show achievement of proper compaction.

(Ord. No. 09-22 N.S., § 1, 6-28-2022)

(a) Trenches shall be paved in accordance with the City's Standard Plans and Specifications. After the trench has been backfilled, and immediately prior to placing asphalt concrete, the existing asphalt concrete shall be saw cut, or milled according to City's Standards, to a vertical face. The cut shall be a "T-Cut" according to City's Standards, and the new asphalt concrete paving shall be butt-joined to the existing asphalt concrete vertical face. Neither new nor existing paving shall be feathered. Vertical faces shall be tack-coated. In prohibition streets, a paving machine or a spreader box shall place the final two inches of asphalt concrete wearing surface. Asphalt concrete shall be delivered and compacted in accordance with the City's Standard Plans and Specifications.

For proper placement of the new pavement section, damaged pavement outside of the original trench cut lines shall be removed by cutting in lines perpendicular, or parallel, to original trench lines. No diagonal cuts shall be made. When two damaged pavement areas exit, any undamaged pavement area of three feet or less between the two damaged areas shall also be removed.

(b) Trenches in recently paved prohibition streets shall have the entire lane key-cut two inches deep and repaved with asphalt concrete, unless the Engineer provides written authorization to resurface with a polymer-modified slurry seal instead. When specifying the use of slurry seal instead of asphalt concrete, the Engineer's authorization shall set forth the reasons for the specification.

(c) Trenches in recently slurry sealed prohibition streets shall have the entire lane resurfaced with polymer-modified slurry seal.

(d) Trenches in concrete streets shall be repaved with concrete. New pavement thickness shall equal the existing pavement's thickness, with a minimum six-inch thickness in the roadway.

(e) Trenches in arterial and collector streets shall be paved with not less than six inches of asphalt concrete; or to the existing pavement's thickness, whichever is greater.

(f) Pavement shall be restored within 14 working days—and within 30 working days for minor excavations—beginning from the time the entire trench is backfilled, absent an excused delay for circumstances beyond the contractor's control, such as inclement weather.

(g) Asphalt pavement shall be compacted to obtain a 95 percent minimum relative compaction. The asphalt concrete wearing surface shall contain no irregularity exceeding 5/16 of an inch in ten feet within any direction.

(h) On all streets steel plates shall be used to facilitate traffic flow and to protect the excavation until restoration of finish pavement. Steel plates used to bridge street openings shall be ramped to the match the adjacent pavement's elevation and be secured against any directional movement. Temporary ramps shall be constructed of asphalt and shall have a gradual, 30:1 slope or flatter using asphalt cutback.

(i) Permittee shall remove all painted USA markings after completion of work.

(j) Permittee shall replace and restore all damaged pavement markings and striping.

(Ord. No. 09-22 N.S., § 1, 6-28-2022)

(a) Depressed trench pavement shall be repaired as follows:

(1) Wearing surface defects: remove and restore wearing surface.

(2) Major defects: excavate, remove and restore surface and base.

(b) City Inspector will determine the severity of the defect. Work that does not comply with the above requirements shall be rejected, removed, and redone by permittee to City Engineer's satisfaction.

(c) Permittee bears responsibility for any roadway defects over and adjacent to the trench that appear after permittee restores the trench. Permittee shall maintain, repair, and/or reconstruct the excavation site's affected area until City reconstructs, repaves, or resurfaces the street.

(d) If trench-related failure occurs after City reconstructs, repaves, or resurfaces the street, the facility's owner shall be responsible for repair if the failure occurs within one year of trench repair.

(e) When City determines that an excavation, or a defect, is hazardous or constitutes a public nuisance, or poses an imminent threat to public health, safety, or welfare, City Engineer may order permittee to remedy the condition immediately.

(f) If permittee refuses or fails to make the needed repairs immediately as ordered by City, then City will make the repairs and:

(1) Permittee will be charged all the actual costs including administration, construction, consultant fees, equipment, inspection, notification, and remediation made necessary by permittee's action or inaction.

(A) City's repair or restoration does not relieve the permittee from liability for future pavement failures.

(2) If permittee fails or refuses to pay the restoration cost, City may use any legal means to recover the costs, including but not limited to, property liens and/or court action. In such action, City shall be entitled to recover its reasonable attorneys' fees and costs.

(Ord. No. 09-22 N.S., § 1, 6-28-2022)