MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. --     The worst stretch of Russell Road should be repaired by April 13, 2013. 
    The winter was unkind to the entire length of the thoroughfare in and out of Quantico’s back gate, but the asphalt on either side of the intersection with the Davis Center driveway was especially ravaged, with much of the top layer missing, several craters along the shoulders and fissures expanding between the lanes. 
    Gallons of temporary “cold patch” pavement were laid in attempt to level the road, but much of that, too, has been displaced. 
    “It just keeps getting worse,” said Joe Provenzano, deputy director of the base Installation and Environment Division. “It’s way beyond cold patch.” 
    This is why base officials decided to have the stretch within at least 100 feet in either direction from the intersection repaved, even though it’s part of the segment of Russell Road that will be rebuilt and widened to four lanes in the fall.
     Provenzano said the base commander began receiving reports of vehicles swerving onto the shoulders, which are commonly used by runners, to avoid the pitted surface of the driving lanes, and the road’s condition became a safety concern. 
    “We’re going to do a repair job on that area only because we don’t feel that we can go the full time [until the widening] without doing something,” he said. “They’re going to mill it and place asphalt over top, just as a stopgap to clean it up.” 
    To minimize the effects on traffic, work is being done during off-peak hours, Provenzano said, adding that the project should only take a few days. 
    Preparatory work for the actual widening of Russell Road from the Marine Federal Credit Union to just past the Davis Center is expected to begin in the summer, with the actual paving of additional lanes beginning in the fall, he said. 
    Unlike the widening project, which will be funded through the military construction budget, the current stopgap paving is paid for with the base’s sustainment, restoration and modernization dollars.
— Writer: mdicicco@quanticosentryonline.com