Norwood city administration told the Infrastructure, Parks and Public Places Committee that it has posted a request for proposals to update the city’s pavement condition rating and will interview respondents within about a week.

The study will diagnose road distresses across Norwood’s roughly 60 linear miles of streets, provide segment-by-segment condition scores and produce cost-estimate scenarios to inform the city’s operating and capital budgets, staff said. City staff emphasized that the analysis is intended to help prioritize repairs and estimate long-term funding needs rather than to obligate immediate construction work.

City staff member Mr. Skelly, who presented the plan, said consultants typically recommend PCR updates every three to five years and described the study as “a good first step” to guide maintenance and capital planning. He noted the study will include data such as a 1–100 pavement score and international roughness index measurements and said the RFP attracted about five interested respondents, including both data/vehicle-based firms and civil engineering firms that would interpret the data for repair decisions.

Skelly provided rough cost examples drawn from past projects: a recent rebuild of Smith Road worked out to about $2.7 million per linear mile for nearly full-depth reconstruction; extrapolated across Norwood’s street network, that scale of work would represent roughly $180 million in street assets, including associated items such as stormwater and sidewalks. "Numbers are important. But this is where having a good data, a good study will help bolster where we take this," Skelly said.

Committee members discussed how PCR outputs would be used. Staff said the study is intended to feed both operating and capital budgets and to allow elected officials and administrators to weigh PCR scores alongside other priorities—traffic counts, roadway classification (local street, collector, arterial), and related utilities—when deciding which segments to repair first. The city plans to interview RFP respondents and report back to council with recommended next steps; no formal motion or vote was recorded at the committee meeting.

Committee members also noted recent winter weather had aggravated pavement conditions and reiterated that surface smoothness does not always reveal deeper structural issues; the international roughness index and other measures give additional diagnostic detail.

Next steps: staff will complete interviews of RFP respondents, select a contractor, and return to the council committee with a recommended scope, schedule and cost estimate. The timeline for selecting a vendor was described as "as soon as possible," with follow-up briefings for council and public outreach once data collection begins.