Agenda - Public Works Committee - 02/15/2011

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Public Works Committee Date: 02/15/2011 By: Tim Himmer Engineering/Public Works Information Title: Overview of the 2011 Street Maintenance Program Item #: 5. 2. Background: The Street Maintenance Program (SMP) is an annual program which has been implemented, beginning in 1981, to address the preventative maintenance needs of the City's streets. An idealized maintenance schedule that the City has initiated is as follows: • Apply a first sealcoat 5 years following the construction of a bituminous pavement. Developer escrows are collected to cover this cost. • Apply a second seal coat in Year 12 of the pavement (seven years after the first seal coat). • Apply a one and one-half inch bituminous overlay in Year 19 (seven years following the second sealcoat). The pavement generally requires additional strength by this time and sealcoating is no longer effective in keeping water from penetrating the pavement due to extensive cracking. • Apply a seal onto the overlay in Year 24 (five years following the bituminous overlay). Cracks will have reflected from the underlying pavement by this time and the seal will restore the imperviousness of the overlay in addition to improving the skid resistance of the pavement. Each year the street pavements are reviewed and rated on a scale from 1 to 10 using a Phaser rating system. The streets programmed for maintenance are selected based on a combination of the idealized schedule above and the rated conditions. It is also necessary to modify the program based upon the budget available. For these reasons the actual program will vary from the idealized schedule described above. In recent years the City completed overlaying a number of streets which were initially constructed between 1979 and 1983 when Ramsey experienced a "paving boom". Because funds were needed to address streets which badly needed overlays, some of the sealcoating projects were delayed. This year the sealcoating portion of the SMP will focus on streets that were overlaid in 2006. The 2011 program consists of sealcoating approximately 13.5 miles of City streets. The streets proposed to be sealcoated will have all cracks wider than one -quarter inch sealed prior to the sealcoat application. The program also consists of overlay projects on approximately 1.5 miles of City streets. Streets proposed for overlay will receive a one and one-half inch layer of bituminous wear course applied to the existing surface. The Public Works department will also repair failed areas prior to any maintenance activities. An exhibit illustrating the proposed SMP projects is attached for your review. Notification: Observations: This year is the fourth year of a seven year program to phase out the previous policy of assessing property owners 50% for sealcoating projects. The 2011 assessment for sealcoating projects will be 22% of the total costs. This will continue to decrease by 7% per year until the entire assessment on sealcoating is eliminated in 2014. The current street maintenance assessment policy has evolved into the attached list of assessment procedures. This policy has been modified and expanded over the years as needed, and the Committee may wish to review these policies. As usual, an informational open house will be held with property owners that reside along the proposed streets contained within the SMP to answer questions regarding the program and its process. It is also a good format to identify if any additional improvements should be considered in advance of the standard street maintenance work. Staff will use this open house as an opportunity to listen to resident issues and/or concerns that may be able to be