Paving project smooths streets

The business district portion of Birch Street had the finishing touches put on it Friday as Newport Beach Public Works completed a rehabilitation project that will smooth the road for drivers.

The $500,000 project performed by All American Asphalt is part of more than $6 million being used by the city to give streets a needed face-lift. The city chipped in $250,000 for the Birch Street project, while the other half was paid for by a federal grant from the government.

The rehabilitation project took about five weeks to complete from start to finish and used rubberized asphalt to repave the road between Bristol Street North and MacArthur Boulevard.

The rubberized asphalt is created partially through recycled tires that help to make roads smoother, conceal cracks and keep roads blacker for longer, said Newport Beach city engineer and deputy director of public works Dave Webb.

“The benefit is, there should be a nice road there for about 20 years before we have to lay down again,” Webb said.

The project also replaced some driveway approaches, curb and gutters, cross gutters, sidewalks and sidewalk access ramps, according to the city report.

Most of the work on the project over the last few weeks was done at night or after peak hours, so the project had minimal influence on traffic in the area.

The area is a non-residential zone, filled mainly with businesses.

While other projects are in the works, Public Works doesn’t have too many more slated over the summer, Webb said.

The department is planning to do some right-turn work for Pelican Hill Road and Newport Coast Drive and is in the planning stage for some paving in Corona del Mar, Webb said.

“We are always working to make Newport Beach even better,” Councilwoman Leslie Daigle said.

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at daniel.tedford@latimes.com.