Orinda’s Department of Public Works and Engineering: Always Busy

    Keeping Orinda’s public roads safe and clear of hazards is a multifaceted job that keeps the City’s Department of Public Works and Engineering on their toes.
    Ongoing maintenance on public roads and drainage systems and response to emergencies such as downed trees and road blockages, are the focus of their efforts, said Scott Christie, director of Public Works and Engineering.
    “Even if it’s after hours, we have people that are on call,” said Christie. “They’ll go out, evaluate the situation, remove the debris, or call for additional people to come out and remove the debris, or whatever the case is.”
    When the City’s drainage systems become clogged, the same response is employed, with additional equipment and staff on scene to tackle the problem.
    “Orinda’s Public Works department is a great group of professionals that are very dedicated to keeping our public infrastructure in good condition,” said Mayor Darlene Gee. “They are called upon to respond at all hours of the day and night and often under tough circumstances.”
    Also available are on-call contractors who can arrive on short notice and may be better equipped to handle situations dealing with large trees or mudslides and erosion threatening the roadways.
    “Naturally, we do what we can to avoid those situations,” said Christie, noting that wintertime is usually the most labor intensive. Around this time of year, public works begin ensuring all drain areas are clear and checking the catch basins and inlets for debris and clearing them if necessary. An inspection of the roadways for any needed attention is also a part of the seasonal preparation.
    The crew includes a maintenance supervisor and four full-time employees who work on the roads and drainage, update striping and fire lane curbs and keep the public right-of-way clear of weeds.
    During the summertime public works hires firms to help clear larger areas of brush and tree limbs to comply with Moraga-Orinda Fire District requirements.
    An ongoing annual paving program, based on a software called StreetSaver, helps Orinda’s Public Works scope out the most efficient timing for repairs to City streets. Surveys on conditions such as potholes, alligator cracks and subsidence, or gradual sinking or caving-in, are generally done every two years for major roadways, such as Camino Pablo, and every four years for smaller roadways. The road is then given a pavement condition index number.
    “Depending on the roadway and design of the road and what the pavement section is will map out, using the software, how much is that system degrading, and when it next needs pavement maintenance,” said Christie. Fixes range from a slurry seal, which preserves and protects the pavement structure, to a surface coating, to the more significant “mill and fill” in which the pavement is ground down and the degraded asphalt replaced.
    Micro surfacing is a thin emulsion that can help to restore the flexibility of the pavement, “But it doesn’t necessarily fix all the dips and ridges and some of the problems,” said Christie.
    A roadway surface in especially bad condition will be dug out and coated with a slurry seal, “So sometimes the road will look good, but you’re not going to get the same ride quality as when you grind it out and then put in two or three inches of pavement,” said Christie. “It’s just a matter of expense. We want ride quality, but we have a limited amount of budget, so we have to make it last.”
    While working on the roads, Public Works employees evaluate existing pipes with a camera sent inside to check on the condition of pipes. They have been doing this comprehensively for more than a decade, said Christie, which has provided a strong database.
    “Some [older pipes] have already failed; some, depending on the conditions and the slope, may last another 50 years,” said Christie. “But you don’t really know sometimes until you evaluate them. We do that as part of these annual projects.”
    Depending on its condition, a pipe can be repaired without digging trenches by lining or even pulling a sleeve through and inflating it.
    The Miner Road sinkhole of 2017, just north of Camino Pablo, was a “bad one,” said Christie. The large old pipe was on the list for repair but failed “for a combination of reasons,” one being a high-flow situation with debris.
    Around 2019, Public Works evaluated larger diameter pipes, like the one beneath Miner Road, and prioritized them based both on their condition and on their location.
    “There’s a few left, but they’ve all been budgeted, and the design work now is underway for the last of them,” said Christie. “So that’s a good thing.”
    Public Works utilizes an ongoing educational program through local newspapers and emails reminding residents about the importance of ensuring their private drainage culverts and pipes are clear and ready for the rainy season.
    In addition to maintaining approximately 92 miles of public roads, the Public Works Department also administers the Capital Improvement Program addressing infrastructure needs, the Stormwater Management Program and traffic engineering, including parking enforcement.
    Public Works also works with Caltrans to obtain a permit for the closure of the highway off ramp for the large July 4th parade, with their crew putting up cones and Caltrans erecting a sign alerting drivers of the closure.
    The engineering side of Public Works is more involved with aspects such as the management of construction and procurement of a design work consultant for bridge seismic retrofitting, which was recently completed on two major bridges in town.
    Also keeping the engineering side busy are sidewalk projects, traffic calming, encroachment permits for utility companies and plan review for private developments. Engineering also ensures the stormwater drain system remains free from contaminants.
    “I have always appreciated both their expertise and exceptional commitment to the community,” said Mayor Gee of the Public Works and Engineering Department. “As a civil engineer myself, I greatly respect their capabilities and know that Orinda is well served by their talents.”