09-08-2014 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, September 8, 2014 7:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 2 of 25 (4. DRAFT PAVEMENT MANAGEMENT PLAN, Continued) Martini noted over the years the City’s maintenance operations have included crack sealing and seal coating. In general it has been the City’s practice to extend the coverage of the road budget by limiting the scope of work to the extent possible. Consistent with past practices, the updated pavement management plan attempted to look at seal coating and more maintenance type activities. Martini noted from a rehabilitation treatment standpoint, the assumption is that as the project starts to move forward or a particular road is being considered, a feasibility study would be completed. Martini noted the City has had some roads in the past where reclamation has been included as a feasible method for rehabilitation. Martini stated the plan has considered the following rehabilitation methods: seal coating and crack filling, mill and overlay, and reconstruction. The assumption was that a road with a PCI of 75 or greater would be improved with seal coating and crack sealing, a road between 60 and 75 would be a candidate for mill and overlay, and then a PCI less than 60 would be considered a road that would be reconstructed. Martini noted the plan does not specifically identify any roads for reclamation other than Watertown Road and Stubbs Bay Road where a feasibility study has already been completed. It is recommended in the plan that one of the options to be considered in the feasibility study would be reconstruction. Martini stated potential funding sources for road improvements include the pavement management fund, municipal state aid fund, the general fund/debt service transfers, franchise fees and special assessments. Martini noted the franchise fee is an alternate source of revenue that is traditionally used towards the City’s improvement projects. Martini stated the low volume roads identified in the plan amount to a little over $4 million worth of work, the collector roads amount to approximately $4.5 million, and the municipal state aid system amounts to approximately $3.1 million, for a total of $12.3 million. Martini noted that the costs provided in the report are all 2014 dollars and no effort has been made to project inflation. Because of the shift in the methodology of working within the footprint of the existing roadway, the previous plan had identified over $20 million worth of improvements, which has been scaled down significantly in the updated plan. Martini noted the plan is intended to be an average and some projects may require a bigger scope than what has been presented in the plan but the hope is that there will be other projects, based on existing conditions, those projects can be scaled back, especially on the lower volume roads. Martini stated when you break it down by rehabilitation type, seal coating and cracked sealing amounts to approximately $250,000 per year if it is divided by seven years. Martini noted the maximum life of a seal coating is seven years. The plan identifies approximately 30 miles of road that are in that seal coat category, which breaks out to approximately $59,000 a mile. Mill and overlay breaks down to approximately $324,000 a mile and covers nine miles of road. The reconstruction comes in at approximately $729,000 per year over a 10-year period. The total investment, if the City were to follow the plan, would break down to an average of $1.3 million per year. Levang stated she is happy to see the reduction from $20 million to $14 million and that she also appreciates the pictures of the roads that have been included in the report. Levang stated in her view it behooves everyone to remember that maintenance does extend the life of the road and that the seal coating and crack sealing are important things to be doing.