Agenda - Council - 10/08/2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CC Regular Session 6. 2. Meeting Date: 10/08/2013 By: Bruce Westby, Engineering/Public Works Information Title: Public Hearing - Introduction of Franchise Fee Ordinances with Anoka Municipal Utility, CenterPoint Energy, and Connexus Energy Background: The Problem - Aging Streets To date, maintenance of city streets has occurred on an "as -budgeted" basis, meaning pavement preservation treatments including crack sealing, sealcoating and overlaying of existing pavements were completed as the annual budget allowed. Each year, city staff rates city streets using the Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER) system, then prepares plans for that year's Street Maintenance Program project, which is then bid and completed upon Council approval. Unfortunately, not all streets that need pavement preservation treatments any given year, based on their rating, receive any, resulting in pavement that is aging faster than it would have if a routine street maintenance program been followed. A routine maintenance program allows all streets to receive scheduled pavement preservation treatments, thereby maximizing the life of all city streets. It should be noted that this is not an uncommon practice among cities with limited budgets, especially cities whose streets are relatively young and not in need of major reconstruction projects. Such was the case with the City of Ramsey...until recently. The City of Ramsey currently maintains over 174 miles of city streets with the oldest city streets being constructed in 1974. Then during the 10 year period between 1976 and 1985, over 45% of the city's streets were constructed. The life expectancy of streets constructed over solid, well -drained subgrade soils, such as the sands found in the Anoka sand plain which Ramsey is located upon, and that receive regularly scheduled pavement preservation treatments, is approximately 60 years. However, if no pavement maintenance projects are completed over the life of a street, the life -expectancy is then less than 30 years. Since most city streets in Ramsey have been maintained on an irregular basis, the anticipated life expectancy of our existing city streets should then lie somewhere between 30 and 60 years. As part of our street maintenance program, city staff has been rating and evaluating the pavement condition of all city streets for many years. Based on the overall mileage of streets, roughly 23.5% of city streets currently have a PASER rating between 0 and 6, whereas 76.5% are rated between 7 and 10. This indicates that the city has maintained the majority of city streets to an average PASER rating of 6.5 or better to date, which is identified as one of the goals of the recently adopted Strategic Action Plan. But when considering that over 45% of city streets are 30 to 40 years old, and when considering the age and PASER ratings of all other city streets (see attached maps), it is apparent that a long-term street maintenance program should be implemented to maximize the life expectancy of city streets, thereby avoiding the need to reconstruct 45% of city streets in a 10 year period which would place an unmanageable financial burden on the city. Estimated Long -Term Street Maintenance Program Costs Estimated costs for a long-term street maintenance program were calculated using 2013 unit bid prices received on projects that were bid in Ramsey and other nearby cities. Costs assume a life -expectancy of 60 years for all city streets, which requires that the following pavement preservation treatments be applied on a regular basis per staff's recommended long-term street maintenance program schedule as follows. All streets would be crack sealed 3 years after initial construction, overlays, and reconstruction. Concurrent crack sealing and seal coating operations would occur in years 6, 13, 26, 33, 46, and 53. Overlay and edge milling projects would be performed in years 20 and 40.