Village street study finds overall condition 'fair' and recommends five‑year maintenance program

Tyler Nelson, an engineer with Fair Grama Engineering and Environmental, presented the firm’s street study to the Committee of the Whole on Tuesday, saying the villagewide pavement condition rating (PCR) currently averages 84 and that 12.3% of road length scored 64 or lower — a level the report calls poor and likely to need reconstruction.

The study, an update to a 2014 survey, inspected roughly 120 miles of village streets and assigned a PCR of 0–100 to each segment, with 100 being new pavement and anything below 65 considered failed pavement. Nelson said inspectors recorded rideability, surface defects such as alligator cracking, rutting and potholes, and also documented sidewalk, drainage, and utility trenching conditions to help prioritize work.

The recommendation in the report is a five‑year capital maintenance approach that balances one full reconstruction per year with milling-and-overlay, crack sealing and ‘‘surface rejuvenation’’ on other streets. Nelson said that, under current assumptions and the village’s typical road budget of $500,000 per year, the plan would rehabilitate just under 8 miles of streets over five years and hold the overall PCR roughly steady (a projected decline of about 1.2 PCR points per year under the model used).

Why it matters: streets are one of the village’s largest ongoing infrastructure costs, and decisions about which blocks to rebuild or preserve affect neighborhoods differently. The study is designed to feed the village’s five‑year capital improvement plan (CIP) and help staff and trustees make data‑driven choices about where to spend limited funds.

Nelson described the practical inspection method used: two Fair Grama staff drove every residential street this summer, scoring conditions and taking photo documentation so the ratings can be compared to the 2014 baseline. He said the team excluded larger collector or arterial streets such as Main, Love, Willowbrook, Chestnut and McDonald because those typically require larger, grant‑scale projects.

Nelson said preservation treatments vary by PCR range: crack sealing and surface rejuvenation are cost‑effective on streets rated in the 80s and 90s to extend life by several years; milling and overlay is recommended for ‘‘fair’’ pavements (PCR roughly 65–79); and full reconstruction is generally considered for pavements below 65. He told trustees that drainage failures and tree canopy that prevents drying commonly accelerate pavement deterioration.

Public‑works staff said the village currently spends about $500,000 annually on roads from its operating and MFT allocations. The report modeled outcomes for different funding levels: doubling the road budget for five years would raise the overall PCR by several points; tripling it would make more substantive gains and rehabilitate many more miles of pavement.

Trustees raised neighborhood‑level questions such as whether to prioritize collector/entrance roads versus interior, dead‑end streets and how to factor construction traffic and truck loads (garbage trucks, school buses) into prioritization. Staff recommended focusing reconstruction where it will produce the largest, demonstrable improvement for residents while using targeted preservation on other streets so they do not ‘‘fall through the crack’’ and later require much costlier reconstruction.

Nelson said the village now has photo documentation and data formatted to be uploaded to the village’s public pavement database so residents and developers can query street condition by address. He also recommended periodic updates to the inventory rather than waiting a full five years: the five‑year plan should be treated as a living document that gets revised annually as projects are completed.

Key numbers and details from the study: the village inspected about 120 miles of streets; 12.3% of road length had PCR 64 or lower; current overall PCR is 84; the village’s typical annual road budget used in the model was $500,000; the model estimated just under 8 miles rehabilitated in five years at that budget and projected a roughly 1.2 PCR‑point annual decline under that scenario.

Nelson said the full report, appendices with per‑street scores and the inspection forms will be published in the board packet and shared folder after the meeting. "We were trying to give you a data‑driven approach so the village can decide priorities based on measurable condition," Nelson said.

Next steps: trustees and staff will use the report to refine the village’s CIP and budgeting choices. The presentation materials and street‑by‑street ratings will be available in the board packet and the village’s online folder for further review.