Branson consultants say modest budget increase would keep city roads from deteriorating

Consultants from CJW presented the findings of a pavement management plan to the City of Branson during a study session, saying the citywide pavement condition index is about 66 and that an increase in annual paving funds would reduce the city’s backlog and long‑term repair costs.

The plan—based on a network assessment that included IMS’s IRIS Pro Pave Van equipment—found that roughly 70% of Branson’s pavement falls in the good to excellent categories, about 18% is rated excellent, and the estimated backlog is 14% of the network. The consultant recommended increasing steady‑state mill‑and‑overlay funding from the current $1,350,000 allocation (part of a $2,000,000 annual mill/overlay budget) to about $1,760,000 a year to hold the PCI near 66 and lower the backlog toward a 10% target.

Why it matters: Branson’s street network supports about 10,000 residents and the city’s tourism economy. Consultants emphasized preventive maintenance to extend pavement life and lower future rehabilitation costs, and they warned that deferred maintenance becomes exponentially more expensive.

Mark Thornsberry, a CJW consultant, said the assessment used both surface‑distress measures and roughness indices: "Some folks will come in and they'll do a pavement assessment, but they won't do a, roughness index. This equipment actually does both." He noted that when preventive crack‑sealing and surface treatments are done early, "your pavements are gonna last longer and you're gonna spend less than if you wait and have to rehabilitate the whole pavement."

The presentation described a performance curve showing a modest drop in condition that can be controlled by preventive maintenance, followed by a steep decline if work is deferred. The consultants provided cost comparisons for treatments ranging from slurry seal and seal coat up through full‑depth rehabilitation and cited city data showing almost 2 million square yards of pavement in Branson.

City staff clarified how the mill‑and‑overlay budget is structured: the board budgets $2,000,000 annually for mill and overlay, of which $1,350,000 is currently allocated for mill and overlay work; roughly 10% of the $2,000,000 is held for contingency and approximately 25% must be used for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) improvements tied to overlay projects. That means raising the mill‑and‑overlay line to the recommended $1,760,000 would require additional appropriation above the existing $2,000,000 total.

Board members pressed for detail on how the model prioritizes streets. The consultants said the IMS model produces a prioritized list using PCI values and that, while elected officials may tweak priorities for local concerns, the model is designed to maximize the budget’s effect. The presenters also noted the importance of coordinating paving with planned water‑line and utility renewal projects; the city has deliberately deferred some neighborhood overlays pending utility work.

On neighborhood impacts, a board member summarized the plan’s finding that residential streets have lower average PCIs than collectors and arterials. "When you look at this chart, it says it would make a lot of sense to spend the majority of the money in our residential areas, because they're the lowest PCIs," a board member said; consultants responded that the recommended program balances preservation across functional classes and that this year’s program is focused on residential neighborhoods.

Officials asked about how the model can be used to show the effect of additional funding; CJW said the data can be re‑run or manually adjusted to show scenarios (for example, improving particular segments to a higher PCI) and offered to provide those scenario outputs to the board. The consultants recommended repeating the pavement assessment about every five years; the current study used high‑precision equipment and covered most but not all centerline miles (IMS drove approximately 88 miles of the network during the assessment).

The session closed without a formal vote on funding; staff said they would include the study’s recommendations in the upcoming budget process for the board’s consideration.