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Council approves $2.53 million reprieve for city paving program; street rating, preservation plan explained
Summary
The Common Council approved a $2,526,702 additional appropriation to the city property maintenance budget for street repaving and preservation and heard how the city prioritizes paving by subdivision PCI, engineering projects, and a five‑year plan.
CARMEL, Ind. — The Carmel Common Council on July 21 unanimously approved an additional appropriation of $2,526,702 to the city property maintenance budget to support the pavement maintenance and repaving program.
Councilor Taylor said the finance committee had recommended the appropriation after reviewing the street‑repaving plan. Matt Higginbotham, street commissioner, told the council that the city divides pavement into pavement management sections—generally full subdivisions or road segments—and assigns each a normalized pavement condition index (PCI). He said the city also factors in concurrent engineering or utility projects and prefers to repave contiguous main roads from roundabout to roundabout rather than piecemeal segments.
Higginbotham said the city is building a five‑year plan and will use a laser‑based “street scan” to better model degradation. He gave Plum Creek Farms as an example: the subdivision’s normalized rating is 62, which staff said makes it a candidate for crack‑repair treatment (transverse‑crack mastic plus a preservation overlay) rather than full reconstruction.
A resident, Rose Popovich, spoke during public comment asking that Plum Creek Farms be re‑considered for paving; she told the council she had been told her streets were not on the current rotation and she asked how to resubmit a request. Higginbotham replied that the PCI and project timing guide the list and that the new appropriation and future budget cycles will address a substantial portion of roads flagged as “poor.” Council members noted staff reported that a PCI of 40 or lower is considered poor and that, with the new funding and planned program, staff estimated about 70 percent of roads currently rated poor would be addressed in the 2026 paving cycle.
Why it matters: the appropriation and preservation strategy affect which neighborhoods receive overlays, full repaving, or crack repairs and how the city coordinates paving with utility or redevelopment work.
What happened next: the council passed the ordinance authorizing the appropriation after a finance‑committee recommendation and a staff presentation; staff said they will continue five‑year planning and return with program details in future budget cycles.
