Commerce to expand street maintenance, using new mill-and-grind machine

The City of Commerce, Texas, plans to expand street maintenance work and use a newly purchased mill-and-grind machine known as an asphalt zipper to grind and recycle worn pavement, a City of Commerce staff member said on the Commerce Connect podcast. The city also described an inspection program, prioritization criteria, and near-term maintenance projects using a mix of city crews and contractors.

The announcement matters because routine maintenance can extend the life of pavement and delay more costly full reconstruction. City staff said most Commerce streets now score "poor to failed" on the Pavement Condition Index (PCI), leaving the city with a backlog of segments that need either surface maintenance, mill-and-overlay, or full reconstruction.

City staff said the city began an organized PCI inspection program about three years ago; the vendor-driven inspections now run on a multi-year rotation so the city can update condition scores. "We started that program about three years ago," the staff member said, describing plans to have the vendor re-drive and re-inspect every third or fourth year. The city intends to inspect every street on a two- to three-year rotating basis to keep PCI data current, the staff member said.

That inspection work supports a prioritized maintenance approach that weighs PCI score, traffic volume and cost. The staff member described how the city will choose between treatments: micro-surface or slurry seals for streets in good condition, crack sealing for streets with surface fissures, chip sealing for some fair-to-poor streets, and mill-and-overlay or full-depth repair where surface treatments would not be effective. The staff member used a funding example to illustrate trade-offs: with $100,000, the city could either spread a lesser treatment across several miles or concentrate a deeper repair on a shorter stretch.

The city announced equipment and program changes to enable deeper maintenance at lower cost. Staff said the city has purchased an "asphalt zipper," a brand-name mill-and-grind machine the staff described as able to remove two to three inches — or the full depth of a pavement surface — and produce recycled material. "We now have the equipment because most of our roads are in poor condition," the staff member said. The city plans to use the equipment to grind and remove deteriorated pavement and then hire contractors to lay new surface material, with recycled millings reused where appropriate.

Staff also described other operational steps: acquiring small street-sweeping equipment for spot cleaning, contracting crack-seal work (specialized equipment and typically seasonal), and training city crews to operate the new mill-and-grind machine. "Staff is currently training on how to use that," the staff member said, and staff added that visible mill-and-overlay and full-depth repair projects should begin in the coming months and continue into the next year.

The staff member emphasized the city's change in approach: "We know streets is a priority. We get feedback from the community all the time that we need to do work on our streets. We agree. Streets is our responsibility. We have not always carried that responsibility well, but we're acquiring equipment," the staff member said.

The city did not specify a total budget for the full program or list specific streets that will be repaired first; staff said prioritization will depend on PCI scores, traffic volumes and available funds. The staff member noted that streets classified as "failed" by PCI generally require full reconstruction rather than surface maintenance.

Residents should expect to see targeted projects soon as staff and contractors carry out milling, overlay and full-depth repairs. The city said it will return to updated PCI inspections in the next one to two years to refresh priorities and measure progress.