Item No.
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
BY: MATTHEW BAUMGARDNER, P.E., DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS/
CITY ENGINEER
DATE: JUNE 25, 2024
SUBJECT: DISCUSSION ON THE PRIORITIZATION OF ARTERIAL ROAD PAVING
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City Council will discuss and provide direction to staff on the prioritization of paving of the City’s arterial roads. The City currently has five arterial road segments within its 5- year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) – Woodruff Avenue, Downey Avenue, Bellflower Boulevard, Imperial Highway, and Lakewood Boulevard. The paving of Woodruff Avenue is currently planned to be completed in Fiscal Year 2024-2025. The current plan is to complete the paving design of Downey Avenue and bid this arterial road for paving in Fall 2024. Funding is available for the paving of Woodruff Avenue and Downey Avenue, while Bellflower Boulevard, Imperial Highway, and Lakewood Boulevard have funding allocated for design only, which will be completed in Fiscal Year 2024-2025.
It is anticipated that sufficient funds will be available in subsequent budget cycles through State and local return funds to pave one arterial road each year in addition to the paving of residential streets.
RECOMMENDATION
That the City Council:
Discuss and provide direction to staff on the prioritization of arterial road paving.
BACKGROUND
At its October 24, 2023 City Council meeting, staff presented an update on the City’s paving efforts since 2008 and a summary of the remaining paving to be completed along the City’s residential (Attachment A) and arterial roads (Attachment B). At that time, staff was given direction to prioritize Downey Avenue as the next arterial road to be addressed following completion of the Woodruff Avenue Pavement Rehabilitation project.
The City’s 214-mile road network is comprised of approximately 154 miles of residential streets (72 percent), 17 miles of collector streets (8 percent), and 43 miles of arterial streets (20 percent).
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2 Dating back to 2013, approximately 137 miles has been paved through a combination of slurry, overlay, and reconstruction treatments, which equates to approximately 64 percent of the road network. Since 2018, nearly 90 miles have been paved (see Attachment A), with 66 miles being paved in the last two years. This dramatic increase can be attributed to two major efforts adopted by the City Council around 2021: the Citywide residential pavement management analysis and the $30 million bond issuance.
In March 2021, the City Council conducted a pavement management analysis, which rated the entire road network using the standard Pavement Condition Index (PCI) methodology. Every segment of the City’ roadways was driven, inspected, and graded to determine its condition. From this analysis, a 10-year paving program was developed and adopted by the City Council, which organized the City’s residential streets into ten separate geographic zones. The arterial streets requiring reconstruction have been designated as projects in the City’s Capital Improvement Program.
In July 2021, the City Council wanted to accelerate much needed residential street improvements, and adopted a program that would issue approximately $30.5 million in bonds, with payments on these bonds being made over a 20-year period using annual proceeds from the City’s allocation of Measure M and Measure R local return funds.
Following the bond issuance, staff grouped 6 of the 10 residential zones into a first phase of work. At the time when these phases were established, it was not known how many of the ten residential zones could be completed with the $30 million bond funds, as their analysis and design had yet to be started. The first phase was completed and accepted by the City Council between January 2022 and September 2023, expending approximately $21 million on 66 miles of residential streets in the two-year period of design and construction.
ANALYSIS
The infusion of approximately $30.5 million in available funds from the bond issuance allowed staff to focus on addressing the 10-year residential program on a much more aggressive level. In less than two years, the City completed the paving of the first six areas of the 10-year residential program as part of the first phase. An additional three areas are scheduled to be completed in Fiscal Year 2024-2025, and the final area will be completed in Fiscal Year 2025-2026. This would complete the entire 10-year residential program in less than five years.
In addition to the residential program, the City has a number of CIP projects that focus on reconstructing different arterials over the next few years, including sections of Woodruff Avenue, Downey Avenue, Bellflower Boulevard, Imperial Highway, and Lakewood Boulevard.
Current Trends in Paving Costs
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3 It is important to note that while the City has managed to rapidly increase the pace at which it is paving its road network, the cost of doing so has also seen sharp increases. In 2013, the cost per mile for paving was approximately $300,000, when averaging across all types of pavement treatments used in residential paving projects (slurry, overlay, and reconstruction). The recent bid that was received for the Areas 5 and 7 residential paving was $481,250 per mile, representing an inflationary increase of 60.4 percent since 2013.
This can be attributed to significant increases in material costs (asphalt and concrete), as well as labor. The cost for roadway reconstruction can be between $2 million and $3 million per mile depending on total width of the road and the thickness of the pavement section being removed and replaced with a new one. These increased costs make it increasingly more difficult for the City to keep up with its roadway needs.
Remaining Residential Paving to be Completed
There are four areas remaining in the original 10-year residential program established in 2021. Three of the four areas are currently budgeted to be constructed in Fiscal Year 2024-2025 (Areas 3, 5, and 7). Areas 5 and 7, are scheduled to begin construction in July 2024 and Area 3 will be bid for construction in Fall 2024 and be completed by Spring 2025. Area 6 will be completed in Fiscal Year 2025-2026.
Remaining Arterial Paving to be Completed
There are currently five arterial roads in the CIP – Woodruff Avenue, Downey Avenue, Bellflower Boulevard, Imperial Highway, and Lakewood Boulevard. The current plan has the arterial paving to be completed in the following order:
Arterial Road Length of Road PCI Rating
1. Woodruff Avenue 1.7 miles 44
2. Downey Avenue 3.9 miles 65
3. Bellflower Blvd. 1.6 miles 51
4. Imperial Highway 3.4 miles 66
5. Lakewood Blvd. 4.5 miles 66
One of the key factors in prioritizing arterial paving is the road’s PCI rating, which gives an overall indication of the condition of the road. The lower the PCI rating a road has, the worse the overall condition it is in. PCI alone is not the only consideration taken into account by staff when evaluating arterial roads. Staff must also determine if there are any permitting requirements with outside agencies. For example, the Woodruff Avenue project has had significant delays related to permitting with the Union Pacific Railroad and Caltrans. In the case of Downey Avenue, there are no other jurisdictions that the City must consult with prior to starting the project. However, in the case of Bellflower, the City must work with Caltrans to receive permits when paving near the on- and off-ramps for the 105 freeway. There are also other considerations that must be made, including the need to replace water system infrastructure prior to repaving the road and whether there are sufficient resources available to complete the water system upgrades in time for the paving to start.
DISCUSS AND PRIORITIZE PAVING OF ARTERIAL ROADS
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4 From the list above, it is clear as to why Woodruff Avenue is prioritized, as it has the worst overall PCI rating. . Downey Avenue and Bellflower Boulevard follow Woodruff Avenue on the list. Bellflower Boulevard has an overall lower PCI rating when compared to Downey Avenue, but Downey Avenue has a particularly poor section of pavement requiring reconstruction as motorists come into the heavily-trafficked downtown area.
Considering this, in 2023, the City Council prioritized Downey Avenue as the next project to complete following Woodruff Avenue. Staff has proceeded with this project prior to Bellflower Boulevard as directed. This decision also aligns well with the fact that Downey Avenue can proceed in construction without any Caltrans permitting, while Bellflower would require Caltrans input and permitting before construction can take place. Both Woodruff Avenue and Downey Avenue should be completed in Fiscal Year 2024-2025, with Bellflower Boulevard being completed in Fiscal Year 2025-2026, unless Council provides other direction. Both Downey Avenue and Bellflower Boulevard projects require water system upgrades prior to construction. The Downey Avenue water system upgrades are currently ready to be bid for construction. The Bellflower water system upgrades would not be ready for construction bidding until Fall 2024.
Available Funding for Paving Projects in Fiscal Year 2024-2025 The City has approximately $22,600,000 available for paving projects in the next year, with approximately $14,000,000 being carried over from Fiscal Year 2023-2024. Currently $9,900,000 is assigned to the upcoming residential paving in Areas 5 and 7. An additional $900,000 is assigned to the paving of alleys north of Foster Road. The Woodruff Avenue Pavement Rehabilitation project has $3,100,000 in budgeted funds. This leaves approximately $8.7 million in funds available for the next residential streets project, Area 3, and the Downey Avenue project, which staff anticipates will be sufficient funding to complete these projects in Fiscal Year 2024-2025, but it does not allow for any additional paving of the Area 6 and Bellflower Boulevard projects.
Available Funding for Paving Projects in Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Annual State and local return funds totaling $13 million each year are typically used for paving projects, concrete sidewalk repairs, and traffic safety projects, including traffic signal upgrades, pedestrian cross-walks, and major intersection improvements. Staff anticipates having approximately $10,300,000 in funds available for paving in Fiscal Year 2025-2026. These funds would be sufficient to cover paving of the Area 6 residential project, Bellflower Boulevard, as well as additional alley paving, citywide concrete sidewalk repairs, and residential slurry seal projects. Staff plans to begin an annual slurry seal program in this fiscal year to preserve all of the streets that have been paved since 2021.
Status of Arterial Paving Projects
Woodruff Avenue is currently out to bid for construction, and staff anticipates beginning this project in August 2024.
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5 Downey Avenue is currently in design, which should be completed by August 2024. The water system upgrades, which need to be completed prior to any paving work on Downey Avenue, are also ready to be bid out. With the completion of the water system improvements, Downey Avenue pavement construction could take place beginning in Fall 2024 and completed by June 2025.
Bellflower Boulevard is at a 60 percent design stage and would be ready to bid for construction by January 2025. However, design for the water system upgrades would need to be completed first, so that they could be bid by Fall 2024 and completed before construction began. However, as discussed in the previous sections on available funding for paving, there are not sufficient funds to pave both Downey Avenue and Bellflower in Fiscal Year 2024-2025. Each project would require up to $4 million to complete. As of now, that funding is allocated to the Downey Avenue project based on prioritization by the City Council in 2023. If the City Council desires to accelerate the Bellflower project, staff would shift over the construction funds from the Downey Avenue project. However, the project would be approximately three months behind the Downey Avenue schedule and would likely be completed by September 2025. If directed to proceed first with the Bellflower Project, staff anticipates constructing the Downey Avenue project in Fall 2025 and completing by June 2026.
Both Imperial Highway and Lakewood Boulevard have not begun their design phase. The both also have extensive water system upgrades that need to be designed and completed prior to any pavement construction. As a result, these projects are scheduled to be addressed after Woodruff Avenue, Downey Avenue, and Bellflower Boulevard, in Fiscal Years 2026-2027 and 2027-2028.
CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES
Quality of Life, Safety & Infrastructure
FISCAL IMPACT
There are no fiscal impacts with this report.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: Residential Paving: Areas 3, 5, 6, and 7
Attachment B: Future Arterial CIP Projects
RESIDENTIAL PAVING AREA 3,5, AND 7 (FY 2024-25) AREA 6 (FY 2025-26) ATTACHMENT "A"
98 7
5 4 6
312
10 FY 2024-25
FY 2025-26
FY 2025-26
FY 2024-25
FY 2024-25
FY 2024-25
FUTURE ARTERIAL CIP PROJECTS
ATTACHMENT "B"CIP 23-03CIP
1 4
-
1 4
CIP 24-05CIP 14-09
CIP 2
2-
0 5
CIP
1 5
-
1 2CIP
1 5
-1
2 CI
P
1 5
-
1 2CIP 23-03CIP 24-05CIP 24-05CIP 23-03CIP 24-05CIP24-05CIP 23-03CIP 2 2-
0 5CIP
1 5
-
1 2
FUTURE ARTERIAL CIP
PROJECTS
CITY BOUNDARY