Sahara Casino Case Study

Sahara Casino Resurfaces with Slurry Seal

By Eric Reimschiissel

When the Sahara Casino in Las Vegas decided to resurface its largest parking lot, several options, including a complete overlay, new asphalt mat and conventional seal coats were considered. After visiting sites and weighing options, the Sahara decided to place an application of "Type Two Fine Road Slurry Seal" per City of Las Vegas specifications.

The Sahara Casino, located on Sahara Avenue and Las Vegas Blvd., is a major Las Vegas landmark, and is currently undergoing remodeling inside as well as outside. This large lot will be used for all the parking in conjunction with the concrete parking structure and will receive much more use than in the past. The extra use was a major consideration when choosing a resurfacing product.

The parking lot is approximately 566,000 square feet covering 13 acres. The existing surface was raveled, with exposed asphalt rock, presenting a rough surface texture. Due to the surface condition and planned future use of the lot, the application needed to be long lasting and cost effective. Type Two Slurry Seal fit the bill.

The Sahara Casino selected CPM West, a subsidiary of California Pavement Maintenance, as the Slurry Seal Contractor. For the past two years, CPM West has also been awarded the City of Las Vegas Slurry Seal Projects using Type Two Fine Road Slurry Seal for parking lots and streets.

The City of Las Vegas is one of the largest users of Road Slurry Seals in the nation. Road Slurry Seals have covered many millions of square yards of asphalt in the Las Vegas area, adding to its functional life. The City of Henderson, Clark County and Clark County School District have also placed Type Two Road Slurry Seals in the region.

Type Two Fine Road Slurry Seal is an asphalt seal coat as well as a thin resurfacing product. The material consists of emulsified asphalt, ¼" or #4 minus aggregate, and other materials to aid in application. The materials are placed at an application rate of 14 lbs. per square yard, or approximately ¼" thickness. Compared to a typical parking lot seal coat placed a 2 lbs. per square yard, Type Two Slurry’s heavier application allows for a longer lasting surface. The Type Two Slurry Seal materials are machine mixed on site and placed through a spreader box onto the existing asphalt surface.

At the Sahara, the equipment, aggregate and material storage area was set up on the adjacent lot. This allowed a close working proximity between the job site and the material stockpile. The work on the parking lot was divided into sections to allow partial use of the parking lot during construction. Each section of the lot was barricaded off the night prior to surfacing. The next morning started with cleaning and preparing of the parking lot surface. This included removing motor oil drippings and heavy paint lines from the asphalt surface. A grinder was used to remove approximately 1/8" of material at these locations. This type of grinding aids in the adhering of the slurry seal to the existing surface. A brush and vacuum sweeper then swept the surface. This sweeper cleaned the surface of all dirt and other objectionable materials. It’s important that the surface be clean prior to the application of the slurry seal material.

The application of the Type Two Slurry Seal began by placing a leveling or initial application to the rough and exposed aggregate areas. The pre-level material consisted of the same gradation as the surface course, but was placed at a heavier application. The pre-level application allows the finished course to be a uniform and even surface. The placement of the Type Two Slurry Seal was completed in three phases after the pre-leveling. After the slurry seal was applied, striping the parking places completed the process.

As with any project, success at the Sahara was due to a team effort. Jim Van Houten, the Project Manager or the Sahara, was very involved with the coordination the project and helped in many ways. The security guards and valet staff kept traffic moving and assisted hotel patrons in a timely manner assuring that the project went as scheduled. Their assistance along with our experienced crew insured easy access by the hotel and casino customers. Little if any loss of business was experienced by the casino and hotel during this construction project. It was business as usual at the Sahara.

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