Paving in Belwood of Los Gatos

Paving Belwood – video and post with still photographs

The following video was shot by my husband, Jim Handy:

For the last week or two, road construction crews have been busy in the Belwood of Los Gatos, Surmont and Belgatos neighborhoods (and other parts of east Los Gatos too). We have received notices on our front porch about road closures, paving dates for various roads and when we can and cannot park on the streets.

As the roadwork began, first the manhole covers were reworked.  That involved removing the paving immediately adjacent to each one, which was a loud job.  Next crosswalks were rubbed out  of existence by a noisy grinding machine, bots dots got scraped away, several stretches of sidewalks and driveways were pulverized into large chunks of concrete (seemed onto to happen where the driveway went over the sidewalk for some reason).

See more photos in rest of article

Yesterday when I was out walking Bella, our faithful and now elderly black lab, there were all kinds of construction vehicles working away on Bacigalupi Drive and Harwood Road (and probably others).

It’s a little hard to see, but up ahead there were three construction vehicles at work. On this particular day, they were putting down the asphalt “chip seal” (the first layer of the new pavement).

A couple of blocks the other way and more were to be found.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A week or so later, the crews returned to do the “slurry seal”.  We felt bad for the construction workers since it was blazing hot.  Apparently, though, the heat is an important element in getting the new part of the road to set correctly – it can’t be done in winter.

It always seems to get worse before it gets better.  I’m sure that the gently curving avenues which meander through this east Los Gatos neighborhood – and many others – will look absolutely stunning when it’s all done.  May it happen soon!

Note: other streets impacted with similar construction work at this time are Arroyo Grande, Lark, Las Astas, Lansberry, Las Miradas, Garden Hill, Shannon, Blossom Hill and areas off Harwood such as Crider Court and Alerche.