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City staff outline pavement-management approach: "keep good roads good"
Summary
City pavement staff walked council through the Pavement Condition Index and preservation-first strategy, explaining why lower-cost treatments (slurry, chip, crack seals) extend roadway life and how the StreetSaver model informs a 5-year treatment plan.
Grant Williams, the city pavement management expert for the City of Ridgefield, told the council the fundamental goal of the pavement program is to "keep good roads good" and to apply the right treatment at the right time.
Williams explained the Pavement Condition Index (PCI), a 0–100 scale generated from field samples and 12 measured distress types, and described how the city uses the StreetSaver pavement-management software to forecast deterioration and budget needs. He said consultants collect 2,500-square-foot representative samples of each road segment and record distresses (low, medium, high severity) to generate PCI scores.
Williams described the pavement deterioration curve and the program's preservation focus: low-cost surface treatments such as slurry seals, chip seals and crack sealing typically extend pavement life by about seven to ten years and are applied until a section has had three slurry seals, after which a mill-and-overlay or stronger rehab is required. "If I take a road that's up there that I can spend on average $2 a square yard for slurry seal...that's a lot better than if I wait till it gets down into the poor condition," he said.
Staff emphasized that the StreetSaver model is a tool that requires human judgment. Williams said the system helps identify where preservation yields the biggest benefit and where limited rehab funds should be reserved for high-need corridors. He also noted the software now incorporates curb-ramp data from the city's transition plan so scenarios will factor Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ramp costs into repaving decisions.
The presentation closed with staff noting the city’s measured performance is strong relative to peers, but keeping the network healthy depends on funding choices. The council did not take formal action in the study session; staff will bring budget options to the 2027 process for further direction.
