Springfield staff outline 2027–31 Capital Improvement Program, stress funding limits and levee work on 40th Street

City Engineer Stan Petroff presented an update to Springfield’s five-year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) covering fiscal years 2027–2031 and asked the Planning Commission for feedback before the city forwards a recommendation to the City Council.

Petroff told commissioners the CIP is a planning tool that identifies projects for the next five years but does not set the final budget. He said the program is constrained by staff capacity and declining street-fund revenue, in part because gas-tax revenue is falling as drivers shift to electric vehicles and a recently passed transportation bill may be delayed or referred to the ballot. As a result, staff expect to shift emphasis from local street preservation toward stormwater and wastewater work while continuing slurry and crack-seal pavement programs where possible.

On transportation, staff used a new pavement-inventory van equipped with a rapid falling-weight deflectometer and cameras; contractors used artificial intelligence to map cracks and prioritize work. The systemwide pavement-condition index is about 69 out of 100, with roughly 11% of lane miles needing full reconstruction, Petroff said. Staff presented a scored project list that weights technical, council and public priorities; the top MPO-eligible projects include a planned 48th Street connector between Main Street and Daisy with a separated 12-foot bike path, selected in part because new residential development to the south will increase traffic demand.

Mohawk Avenue was identified as an emergency preservation need. Petroff said the immediate fix will be a spring mill-and-inlay (a preservation-level repair using fiber‑reinforced asphalt) and that staff plan a larger corridor study (a roughly $1 million study was discussed) to evaluate options such as a roundabout versus signals and to establish a full reconstruction cost estimate. He cautioned that much of the pavement adjacent to Mohawk is ODOT jurisdiction and will require coordination.

In stormwater, Petroff highlighted the 40th Street levee on the city’s east side. He said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has recently committed additional funding and that the Corps is leading an alternatives analysis that could include channel stabilization and raising the levee (by wall or earthwork). Petroff said the Corps has committed additional funds (he described a recent increase of $5,000,000 to bring Corps funding to $15,000,000) and that the city will need to provide a local match; the exact local-match amount was not specified in the presentation.

Wastewater work described in the CIP includes the Jasper trunk sewer (in design/construction sequencing), recurring basin rehabilitation projects to reduce infiltration and inflow (selected using flow-monitoring data), Harbor Drive pump station (in design), and local sewer extensions to support annexation and replace failing onsite septic systems (an example cited was a Pacific Avenue extension to serve failing private systems). Petroff said wastewater reserves are relatively healthy but additional staff will be needed to execute identified projects.

For buildings and facilities, Petroff said the City Hall remodel is the major effort for the next two years and will use a large share of staff time and capital. Other facility needs on the unfunded list include stair and roof repairs, elevator modernization, and seismic upgrades at fire stations; staff showed a placeholder of roughly $350,000 per year for ongoing building preservation.

Commissioners asked about interagency coordination with Lane County sanitation and ODOT, the timing of Mohawk work, the status of the Franklin corridor roundabout (paused because federal contract language held up funding), and expected detour impacts for upcoming ODOT bridge work. Petroff said the Mohawk immediate preservation contract could go to bid in spring, that a subsequent study would determine larger-project costs, and that ODOT coordination will be required for pavement in their jurisdiction. On the 40th Street levee, Petroff said the city and Corps will work through alternatives and costing; schedule and local-match details were not specified.

Petroff asked the commission for feedback; staff said the CIP will return in January for a formal recommendation to council. No formal commission action on the CIP occurred at this meeting.