Engineering manager Rachel Phillips: Bay City roads will keep deteriorating unless funding increases

Summary

Rachel Phillips told the Bay City commission the city’s road network — valued at roughly $600 million — is largely in poor condition and that current annual funding of about $2 million will not prevent continued decline; she said $15 million a year would be needed to bring the system to a fair condition over 20 years.

Rachel Phillips, the city’s engineering manager, told the Bay City commission on April 20 that the municipal street system is ‘‘valued at approximately $600 million’’ and that under today’s funding the network will continue to worsen.

Phillips said the city’s annual road construction budget is roughly $2 million — about one-third of the investment that typically goes into projects once grant matches are included — and that the pavement condition measured by the PASER system shows about 73% of the network in the ‘‘poor’’ category. ‘‘If the road is left alone over the 20 years, it will need to be reconstructed in 20 years at over 2.1 million,’’ she said in the presentation.

Why it matters: City pavement condition is driven by the long-term mismatch between maintenance needs and available funding. Phillips showed a 20-year life-cycle…

Engineering manager Rachel Phillips: Bay City roads will keep deteriorating unless funding increases

Summary

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