By Scott Sullivan
Editor
Will Douglas settle for letting more and more roads crumble? city manager Lisa Nocerini posed it not quite that way.
New PASER (Pavement Surface Evaluation Rating) figures more than one-third of the city’s 16 road miles are “poor” or “failing,” she wrote city council in a roads update prior to this Monday’s meeting. That’s an increase from approximately 20 percent eight years earlier.
“Once roadways deteriorate beyond the ‘fair’ category, preventative maintenance options are no longer effective and reconstruction becomes necessary.”
Such rebuilds “can cost several hundred thousand dollars per mile, far exceeding the cost of earlier preventive maintenance such as crack sealing or overlays.
Historically, Nocerini went on, the city has spent about $100,000 annually on road work, primarily through Michigan Public Act 51 major and local street funding.
“While these funds help address some maintenance needs, they are not enough to significantly improve overall road conditions or address the growing number of streets entering the ‘poor’ category.
Will Douglas settle for that?’ went unsaid.
The point of her presentation “is not to request immediate action, but rather to begin a broader policy discussion with Council regarding the long-term direction for maintaining the City’s roadway infrastructure.
Common funding means sued by municipalities include budgeting more money yearly for roads, road millages, capital bonding strategies and establishing dedicated infrastructure reserves.
Council members agreed city roads need more attention and money. An August road millage? Budgeting more general fund dollars at the price of other needs? A bond maybe? Stay tuned.
