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Oak Ridge staff warn roads losing ground: study puts PCI at 57, suggests $3M+ annual investment to improve conditions
Summary
A city road survey found Oak Ridge's pavement-condition index around 57; staff told council that continuing current paving levels (about $1.7M) will slowly lose ground and that roughly $3'.5M annually would move the city toward a target PCI of 65 over 20 years. Staff also updated council on CMAQ/multimodal sidewalk and signal projects and related grant funding shortfalls.
City public-works staff presented results of a road-condition study and recommended a broader preservation program to avoid costlier reconstruction later. "Pavement condition index looks at roads on scale 1 to 100... We're at a 57," staff member Patrick told the council, explaining that preservation treatments are orders of magnitude cheaper than resurfacing or reconstruction and that many city streets can be salvaged if addressed now.
Patrick described the classification used in the analysis: roads above 86 need little preservation; roads 70+ are in good shape and suitable for preventative maintenance; roads in the 56—70 range typically require resurfacing; roads 36—5 often need rehabilitation; and below that full reconstruction is likely. He highlighted examples to illustrate extremes: Powell Road (PCI 94) versus Cairo Road (PCI 5).
Staff presented two funding models: continuing prior funding near $1.0—.8M (the proposed budget includes about $1.7M for paving) would slow or modestly slow deterioration but still let the overall PCI decline; a $3.0'.5M annual program was estimated to move the city toward an average PCI of about 65 over roughly 20 years, reducing the need for expensive rehabilitation. "If we're trying to come into somewhere of a 65, we're looking in the ballpark of 3 to $3,500,000 annually on road spending," Patrick said.
Council members asked whether a $3.5M program would be enough to upgrade the lowest-tier streets quickly or whether additional, one-time funding would be needed for priority reconstructions. Staff said the $3.5M target is intended to raise the city-wide average over a 20-year cycle and that additional targeted funding could be required to accelerate repairs on the most degraded segments.
On sidewalks and multimodal/CMAQ work along the Turnpike-Illinois Avenue corridor, staff said the multimodal grant was first advanced in 2016—7 and CMAQ awarded in 2019; delays, environmental review and COVID forced extensions and increased costs. Additional CMAQ grant funding of roughly $1.8M was secured, but staff said a multimodal shortfall of about $230,000 remains; staff will bring an extension request to the council next month and expects a state notice to proceed about 60 days after that extension is approved, followed by bid and procurement timelines. Staff also noted lead times for signal fiber and signal-arm materials could shape the construction schedule and that decoupling sidewalks from signal work could lengthen the overall construction window.
