Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Summer paving to finish in July

Statewide Asphalt Paving Company, of Hot Springs, brought equipment and a crew to Gurdon on Monday and got serious about improving streets.

Statewide Foreman Chris Samples said Wednesday, "We may be in Gurdon until sometime in July, but the paving is coming right along."

Gurdon Street Superintendent Jim Caldwell said he and Billy Francis, also of the street department, have been following along with the Statewide crew.

Caldwell said, "We started out by doing all of South First Street, Poplar and Carrie.

"Then we paved our way down Linden to Dean and now to Cedar."

After finishing Cedar Street on Wednesday, the plan was to go to Plum from Poplar, on to Pipkin. Then the crew was to roll on South Street between First and Front  hopefully by the end of the week.

Mayor Clayton Franklin said the only thing about paving with temperatures rising above 100 degrees Fahrenheit "is it takes a bit more asphalt to make the roads two inches thick because of a melting factor."

As to any other effects of the hot weather on streets, Franklin said street buckling, if there is any, will come in the hottest part of the year  late July or August.

"We are just getting started with the heat. At least the evenings are cooling down some."

On the paving project, the mayor said there are plans to pave the quarter-mile walking trail, located next to Gurdon Primary School.

"Our crews have been getting the walking trail ready and Statewide will pave it, and its parking lot, in the near future," he said. "We've tried to cover our chuck holes so that all of the paving goes on smoother."

Franklin said in addition to the walking trail facility, a total of 21,000 feet of street will be paved in the 15-street schedule.