Birmingham engineers outline 28 miles of unimproved roads, timeline and costs; commissioners press for choices on pace and funding

City engineer Melissa Coda opened a special workshop March 10 with a presentation on Birmingham’s unimproved roads, saying the city currently records about 28 miles of such streets and a total of roughly 85 miles of city-owned roads.

Why it matters: Commissioners and residents pressed the administration for clearer choices and costs after Coda said at the current pace of work some neighborhoods would not see fully improved streets for decades. The discussion covered maintenance versus reconstruction, how the city prioritizes water and sewer replacement, and options to change special assessment rules or accelerate work by bonding or reallocating existing funds.

Coda briefed the commission on the city’s Act 51 road inventory submitted to the Michigan Department of Transportation and then summarized annual spending patterns. She said major and local street funds cover maintenance and capital work; “in 2024 we spent approximately $6,500,000 to major and local street funds,” she said. The engineer described two broad responses to gravel or “cape seal” roads: continued cape-seal maintenance that preserves a gravel base, or a special-assessment-driven conversion to four-inch asphalt or concrete pavement.

Key details and projections - Mileage: Coda said the city’s total improved-road mileage is about 57 miles and unimproved roads about 28 miles. - Annual cape-seal pace: the engineering department’s recent pace has been roughly 1.5–2 miles per year of cape-seal work; “Engineering’s goal going forward is try to hit approximately 2 miles,” Coda said. - Long-range projection: using an illustrative schedule, Coda warned that at roughly 0.75 miles per year the last unimproved roads would be reached around the 2050s; doubling the pace to about 1.5 miles per year would bring completion into the early 2040s. - Costs: Coda and staff offered a ballpark for converting all 28 miles over decades. Engineering staff estimated roughly $60 million in today’s dollars for pavements only; applying a 5% annual escalation over many years produced larger long-run totals discussed by commissioners. Commissioners and staff noted major additional costs if water and sewer are replaced at the same time.

How projects get prioritized Coda described how the city uses infrastructure scores, downstream utility coordination (sewer/water), nearby streets grouping and other agencies’ schedules (MDOT, Oakland County) to group projects. She said petitions historically advanced many projects, but the city has begun to bring forward city-initiated projects — the first was Westwood, followed by Arlington and Shirley — to address older utility needs without relying on resident petitions.

SAD (special assessment district) rules and resident impacts Coda reviewed the city’s existing SAD policies for improved roads and cape-seal conversions, including front-foot and side-cost formulas and discounts for corner lots. She said the current policy assesses 85% of front-foot costs for properties fronting improvements and noted businesses and vacant parcels are treated differently. Commissioners repeatedly pressed staff to show how the assessment formulas affected households and where the city could shift costs or phase projects.

Commissioner feedback and next steps Commissioners raised three linked points repeatedly: (1) clarify precise cost estimates per lane-mile and separate pavement cost from underground (water/sewer) replacement costs; (2) decide whether the city should require a higher annual investment, bond to accelerate the schedule, or change the SAD split; and (3) improve public outreach and expectation-setting for residents who will face assessments. - Commissioner Schafer asked for a clearer accounting of how many unimproved streets have been converted in the past 10 years and whether city-initiated projects displaced petition projects. - Commissioner Baller emphasized the need for a public-facing education campaign: “You have to get the community on board…this needs to be in front of the community in a bright…way,” he said. - Commissioners and the city manager flagged practical constraints: budget limits, staff capacity and available contractors all constrain how fast the city can proceed. The city manager said accelerating from the current pace would require additional staff and substantial new funding.

Clarifying details captured from the meeting - Cape-seal vs. pavement: local residential streets are typically paved with a 4-inch asphalt overlay on aggregate; cape-seal is a thin surface treatment used on gravel corridors. Coda said cape-seal roads can start to crack or “heave” where the gravel base shifts and ponding occurs. - Complaints volume: Coda said “about 70–90%” of calls to engineering and Public Services about roads concern unimproved roads, often asking “when will the road get paved?” - Examples: Past SADs were cited (a 1955 SAD on Byrd converting to concrete) and recent city-initiated projects included Westwood and Arlington/Shirley.

What the commission asked staff to do next Commissioners asked staff to develop more precise cost-per-mile figures (pavement only and pavement + utility replacement), provide an illustrative bonded financing scenario, and prepare clearer public materials describing likely assessments, funding trade-offs and the difference between cape-seal and full reconstruction.

Ending: timeline and public outreach Commissioners agreed to carry the discussion into the budget process and future workshops. Several said they want more explicit choices from staff about what the city can deliver at different funding levels and clearer communication for residents about the timetable and assessment impacts.

Speakers (selected) - Melissa Coda, City Engineer (presentation) - Mayor Theresa Long (mayor) - Mayor Pro Tem Tom Baller (commissioner) - Commissioner Katie Schafer (commissioner) - Commissioner Bauer (commissioner) - Scott (Department of Public Services, referenced by Coda) - City Manager Joe Ecker

Authorities - statute: Act 51 map / Michigan Department of Transportation (referenced by Melissa Coda as the annual Act 51 submission)

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