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Lake County interim public works director outlines five-year pavement preservation plan and funding challenges
Summary
Interim Public Works Director Lars Ewing told the Planning Commission Lake County aims to preserve pavement with a 5-year plan targeting about 30 miles per year (stretch goal 50), relying primarily on gas-tax funds (highway users account and SB1), federal programs and one-time grants while community members pressed for clearer contact points and safety-driven priorities.
Interim Public Works Director Lars Ewing presented the Planning Commission with a five-year pavement preservation plan and an overview of how Lake County maintains its roads, saying the county seeks to reverse a declining Pavement Condition Index (PCI) that measured 34 in 2022.
Ewing told commissioners the county identifies about 612 miles of county-maintained roads, of which roughly 464 miles are paved and 148 are unpaved. He described three maintenance tiers: reactive/emergency response, routine maintenance (patching, striping, vegetation management) and pavement preservation, commonly implemented as chip seal followed by a fog seal to bind aggregates and extend surface life. "Chip seal is oil and rock — it's like painting a house; it preserves what we have," Ewing said.
Why it matters: Ewing said routine operations and administration consume the bulk of recurring funding (about 70%), leaving SB 1 and federal programs to support pavement preservation and a grant-dependent capital program for bridges…
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