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Issaquah weighs cost versus aesthetic standards as pavement program aims to preserve streets
Summary
The city's streets manager outlined the Pavement Management Program: goal to maintain average PCI 73'80, treat roughly 8.1 lane miles annually, and use a mix of preventative (crack seal, surface/slurry) and reactive (overlays) treatments; council pressed for lifecycle cost modeling and equity considerations.
Bennett Aschbaugh, streets manager, presented the Pavement Management Program to Issaquah City Council on Feb. 9 and framed a central choice for council: continue prioritizing cost-effective preventative treatments or adopt a higher, more expensive aesthetic standard that relies on overlays.
Aschbaugh explained the Pavement Condition Index (PCI) framework, saying the city's level-of-service goal is to maintain a PCI between 73 and 80 and to treat about 8.1 lane miles annually. He estimated the city's current weighted-average PCI at about 76 and summarized treatment cost ranges: "preventative maintenance techniques cost between 1 and $8 per square yard," while surface removal and overlay costs are in the $35 to $45 per square yard range and trigger ADA ramp and stormwater upgrades that can add $7,000 to $12,000 per ramp.
The presentation emphasized that preventative treatments (crack sealing, surface/slurry seals) extend pavement life at lower cost per treated lane mile but can look less uniform; overlays provide a smooth, uniform surface but at substantially higher per-yard cost. Aschbaugh said the PMP goal is roughly 75% preventative and 25% reactive treatments to maximize network longevity and cost efficiency.
Council members pressed for more lifecycle and modeling data. Deputy President Martz asked whether lifetime cost-per-year comparisons would change the trade-off; Aschbaugh said he can provide multi-year scenarios showing combinations of crack sealing and surface seals versus overlays. Council members also raised equity and distribution concerns (ensuring that higher-visibility streets do not consume funding at the expense of other neighborhoods) and asked for a bus tour and more granular PCI segment data.
Next steps: the city is completing a current pavement scan to update PCI numbers; staff will return with modeling scenarios that show multi-year lifecycle costs and more detailed project-level estimates to inform budget deliberations.
