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Commission weighs $26 million pavement-preservation increase as city's PCI hovers near 62
Summary
Transportation staff told commissioners the city's pavement-condition index (PCI) is about 62 and proposed increasing FY25-26 pavement-preservation spending to $26 million (roughly $100 million over five years) to raise and sustain PCI. Commissioners questioned how the program is managed, whether more work should be done in-house and asked for a
Nathan Domi, planning manager, told the Budget Review Commission on March 19 that Scottsdale's overall pavement-condition index is about 62 and that the transportation program proposes $26 million for pavement preservation in FY25-26 as part of a roughly $100 million five-year preservation program.
Nathan said the city maintains an inventory and PCI model for every roadway and that pavement-preservation treatments range from fog seals and crack filling (least costly) up through full reconstruction (most costly). He said the city's pavement-preservation team and consultants model outcomes: —If we establish a goal of what PCI you like, we can establish how much funding we would need to maintain that level and then select which roads need treatment in the five-year plan.—
Staff said the pavement program is delivered largely through on-call contracts; if the commission increases annual funding the contracts can be extended to treat more lane miles in the fiscal year. Nathan said Scottsdale has roughly 910 lane miles of asphalt and that the single-year —y— accounts the city uses for annual overlay work are intended to be spent within the two-year cycle that each —y— account covers.
Commissioners pressed staff on three practical issues: (1) the roll-forward of the multi-year CIP that makes next-year spending projections hard to reconcile; (2) whether more pavement work should be done in-house rather than outsourced to save cost; and (3) whether the commission should choose a target PCI (for example, 70'77) and fund the resulting —surge— required to achieve it. City Manager Greg Keaton said the policy choice is balancing operating pressures (wages, services) against investment in capital preservation; he characterized the decision as a resource-allocation tradeoff.
Staff said the pavement group will provide the commission with detailed road-level PCI data and a five-year treatment priority list; commissioners requested a distribution showing lane-mile shares currently in —good,— —fair— and —poor— condition so the commission can see whether the average PCI masks localized failures.
Why this matters: pavement-condition decisions are resource-intensive because delaying preservation often leads to much higher reconstruction costs. Commissioners signaled they want a policy-level decision on a target PCI and a reconciliation of how additional annual funding would change long-term needs and tradeoffs with operating budgets.
Cited presentation slides and commissioner Q&A provide the supporting evidence.
