Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Roads Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Concord engineers outline $5 million-per-year roads plan to raise pavement condition index
Summary
Public Works staff presented the town's pavement-management strategy, showing a current $2.5 million annual run rate and a proposed $5 million-per-year five-year program to raise the townwide pavement condition index to about 85 and touch roughly half the road network annually under the plan.
Public Works engineers briefed the Public Works Commission on March 12 on the town's roads program, explaining how the pavement condition index (PCI) and treatment bands drive project selection and why staff is asking an increased multi-year commitment for pavement work.
Joe Cormier, a public works engineer, said the town's historical annual paving budget has averaged about $2.5 million. He said models show that maintaining the network at a PCI target near 85 would require an average near $5,000,000 per year for a multi-year program that includes preservation, rehabilitation and some reconstruction. "Our historical budget on average has been around 2 and a half million," Cormier said. "The other models that were run ... to increase our PCI to an acceptable level, which we're calling 85, is around an average of 5,000,000 per year."
What staff presented: A refresher on treatment types (fog seal, crack sealing, microsurfacing, mill-and-overlay and full-depth reconstruction), the reasoning for treating roads in earlier deterioration bands to get better value, and a multiyear list of streets proposed for the coming season. Staff described a typical preservation-focused plan as including lower-cost treatments on higher-PCI streets to delay costly reconstruction, while dedicating funds for base rehabilitation where roads have already fallen into the more expensive band.
Measures and scale: Staff said the five-year $5 million-per-year scenario would allow the town to treat roughly 58 miles of preservation and rehab streets and about 40 miles of routine maintenance in a five-year program (figures presented by staff during the meeting). That projection is intended to raise townwide PCI toward the 85 target and reduce long-term backlog and reactive repairs.
Community outreach and coordination: Staff said they will present project lists to abutters before construction and provide door hangers and virtual meetings; they also said coordination with utilities is essential because town paving typically imposes a five-year moratorium on cutting the new pavement. Commissioners asked for an interactive map staff is preparing so residents and utilities can see proposed work by street.
Financing context: Staff told commissioners the five-year accelerated plan is being proposed as a borrowing article for town meeting. Presenters said the accelerated plan front-loads capital to bring the network to a sustainable condition and then transition to a lower, sustainable annual run rate.
Ending: The commission asked for continued outreach materials, the interactive map, and clearer projections of tax impact and miles to be treated; staff said they would provide those in advance of the town meeting financing hearings.
