Eleven More Lake Wales City Streets to be Resurfaced in Coming Days

Drivers using city streets around Lake Wales have likely noticed improvements to area streets as a six-year program of resurfacing continues.

The aggressive effort to catch up on deferred maintenance began in 2021 and has resulted in miles of smoother new surfaces under the city's Pavement Management Program.

Robert Connors

Motorists can expect minor delays and detours on eleven city streets in Lake Wales beginning this week as crews begin a new resurfacing effort, Ramps running between SR 60 and Scenic Highway were resurfaced earlier in the program.

Portions of 12 roadways were resurfaced in early November, and the effort will resume today with another eleven segments of roadways in Lake Wales. The streets, selected after a professional examination of surface and base conditions, will be milled and reshaped before applying a new two-inch lift of asphalt. Construction will begin on the select roadways today.

"Our City's program is a six-year plan that includes an inventory of roadways with condition ratings and prescribed treatment methods," said Public Works Operations Manager Nancy Hernandez,

The November effort used either a cape seal or a double-micro slurry of liquid. Both processes are preservation treatments to extend the life of the roadways for several years, creating a smoother surface in the process. The current effort will address problems that ro deeper and repairs are expected to last many years.

"Spending the extra time to closely assess each street allowed us to prescribe pavement treatment methods matched to each street's individual pavement condition index rating," said City Manager James Slaton, "allowing us to cost-effectively improve more streets."

The list of roadways to be resurfaced in the current effort include Bryn Mawr Avenue, Bullard Avenue East, Center Street, Cypress Garden Lane, Druid Circle, Fourth Street South, Fifth Street East, Johnson Avenue East, Polk Avenue East, Polk Avenue West and Tillman Avenue East, according to city staff.

Upon completion of this next phase of construction, more than 25 segments of roadways will have been resurfaced since 2022. Prescribed treatment methods are based on condition ratings. Roadways classified as "end-of-life" are milled and resurfaced with a two-inch layer of asphalt. Roadways classified as "remaining service life" are treated with the cape seal or a double-micro slurry of liquid asphalt.

The City's pavement management program was funded for the first time in 2021.