While a City of Turlock workshop held Tuesday had citizens and council members alike lamenting the poor quality of roads in town, in a positive twist of fate just two days later the City was notified that it received a grant of $105,550 from the Department of Resources Recycle and Recovery, or CalRecycle.

Designated for the purchase of recycled rubberized asphalt for two upcoming projects, the new money will assist the City in “offsetting some of the additional costs associated with using rubberized asphalt as part of our two large street improvement projects for 2015,”said Mike Pitcock, City of Turlock Director of Development Services and its City Engineer.

One of the projects includes rehabilitation of Geer Road between Monte Vista Avenue and Taylor Road, which will include a rubberized asphalt overlay and make ramps compliant with the American with Disabilities Act standards. The grant will mitigate the project cost, which totals $1,036,478 and the City will also utilize federal funds from the Regional Surface Transportation Plan program that the City receives on an annual basis.

The second project has a price tag of $1,260,034.50 and includes rehabilitating Hawkeye Avenue between Del’s Lane and Olive Avenue. Along with installing a rubberized asphalt overlay and upgrading the ramps to meet ADA standards, this project also includes mending sidewalks along Hawkeye by installing missing segments. This project will also use federal funds from the RSTP program.

Teichert Construction was awarded the two contracts at the Dec. 9, 2014 Turlock City Council meeting so the projects will be performed concurrently. Construction will begin once the average daily daytime temperature hits 70 degrees, hopefully late March or early April said Pitcock. Construction is slated to take two to three months.