Finn Hill resident Matthew Saavedra is concerned about the recent road resurfacing work done by the City of Kirkland.

He says the slurry seal, which is a mixture of water, asphalt, crushed rock and additives, has left the city with “rough, noisy and dangerous roads.”

Christian Knight, neighborhood services coordinator with the Kirkland Public Works Department, is no stranger to complaints about the slurry seal process, as the city has been using it for 14 years in every neighborhood and typically receives phone calls and emails from concerned residents.

“We are aware of the frustration that some of our residents are feeling about slurry seal,” he said, adding they typically address everyone’s concerns.

Knight has even gone so far as to take a resident up on a dare to walk barefoot across a slurry sealed street.

“I don’t mind walking across the road, I was actually kind of curious at this point. … It actually felt totally fine. You could definitely feel the texture of the road on your feet, but it didn’t hurt.”

As to why the city uses slurry seal, Knight said it is a cost-effective method to preserve the roads. Completely repaving a road can cost $17,000 per city block, while the slurry seal only costs $1,600 per city block and protects the life of the road for five to 10 years.

“They do look rough, and they do look gritty,” Knight said of the slurry sealed roads, adding both cars and rain can dislodge some of the loose rock pieces in the slurry seal. “If I was a resident, I would be concerned about it as well.”

Saavedra, who lives near the intersection of 79th Avenue NE and NE 142nd Place, said the latter road was in great shape before the surface work but is now filled with “loose gravel that is easily kicked up by cars that drive over it.”

Knight stressed the slurry seal work is a preventative measure to preserve roads that are in good condition. Slurry seal cannot be used over a road with a lot of cracks or potholes, as the seal, which is only a quarter-inch thick, will simply start to fall into them and create worse problems.

“You can’t repair roads with it, you can only protect them with it,” he said.

This year’s slurry sealing is over, Knight said, and there is a system in place to sweep up any gravel left behind by the work. Street sweepers come through the affected areas three times, one week after the seal is placed, three weeks after the seal is placed and three months after the seal is placed.

However, Saavedra said NE 142nd Place was slurry sealed Aug. 29 and no sweeping had occurred as of Sept. 9, more than one week later.