Greeley won the “Best in Colorado” subdivision paving award for Keep Greeley Moving’s work last year in the Rolling Hills neighborhood.
The Colorado Asphalt Paving Association (CAPA) recognized Greeley’s paving excellence at the 25th Annual “Best in Colorado” Asphalt Pavement Awards Program celebration last week in Denver. Additionally, the award recognized Greeley’s paving contractor for the work, Martin Marietta.
“It’s an important award to us, and pretty prestigious in the industry,” said Greeley Pavement Management Coordinator Pat Hill.
Scored by a jury of asphalt industry peers, the almost-6-and-a-half-miles of new pavement in the central Greeley Rolling Hills neighborhood scored higher than any other Colorado residential subdivision paving.
Judges base a lot of the score on the quality and appearance of the pavement, Hill said. However, material testing and construction organization and timing play an important role in the award too.
Paving the Rolling Hills neighborhood had quite a few unique challenges, said Asphalt Paving Inspector Randy Walrath. Greeley’s paving crews jumped into the area right after school got out for the summer and only had a couple of months to get most of their work done before school started again.
In the few school-free months, Greeley crews had to find a way to work around the reconstruction of Woodbriar Park, numerous underground utility projects, and the deluge of insurance workers and roofers that needed access to the neighborhood after the intense hailstorms that hit Greeley last summer.
Even with those challenges, Greeley’s paving program managed to come out on top.
“It’s an assurance that our work is high quality and that we’re putting the community’s tax dollars to good work,” said Public Works Director Joel Hemesath.
The staff and crews that spend months diligently laboring over 300-degree fresh asphalt to improve this community deserve recognition for their excellent work, he said.
“And it’s great to see the energy the new roads in Rolling Hills gives one of Greeley’s older neighborhoods,” Hemesath said.
Although it is the first CAPA award Greeley’s Keep Greeley Moving program won, it is the 11th CAPA award Greeley’s paving program earned in 25 years.
At the national level, work done as a part of the Keep Greeley Moving program managed to win the National Asphalt Paving Association’s Excellence in Asphalt Paving award for the last three years.
Keep Greeley Moving — a voter-approved seven-year 0.65 percent sales tax — provides funding to improve and repair Greeley roads. The Keep Greeley Moving program includes road expansion projects; neighborhood road improvements such as the work done in Rolling Hills; arterial and collector road repairs and improvements; and concrete and sidewalk repairs and improvements. The tax, and the KGM program, ends (sunsets) December 31, 2022.
For more information, contact Public Works Director Joel Hemesath at 970-350-9795 or joel.hemesath@greeleygov.com.