February 6, 2024
Public Works
DATE: February 6, 2024
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Daniel Chavarria, Director of Public Works
Tawfic Halaby, Deputy Director of Public Works –
Operations & Maintenance
Robert Chelemedos, Streets Maintenance Supervisor
Subject:
Overview of the City’s Roadway Pavement Condition
FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact to this item.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
In 2006, City Council allocated additional funds to the paving program, resulting in an improved pavement
network condition. In 2011 and 2013, City Council
received updates on the City’s pavement management
system. In 2015, City Council considered allocating
Measure U funds for a city-wide pavement bond.
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
This report provides an overview of the City of
Richmond’s pavement management program and the
results of the recent pavement condition survey.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
RECEIVE a report on the status of the City’s roadway
pavement condition; and DIRECT staff to utilize the
StreetSaver® pavement management system to optimize
the use of paving funds for the upcoming Fiscal Year
2024-25 – Public Works Department (Daniel Chavarria
510-620-5478/Tawfic Halaby 510-620-5482).
DISCUSSION:
The City of Richmond is responsible for approximately 290 centerlines of roadway pavement, roughly equivalent to a 12-foot-wide road that extends from Richmond, CA to Vancouver, Canada. The cost to replace the entire roadway pavement network is currently estimated at approximately $742 million.
AGENDA
REPORT
February 6, 2024
All roadway pavement surfaces deteriorate over time. A successful pavement management program takes advantage of this principle and utilizes optimization techniques to implement less costly preventive maintenance treatments on less deteriorated streets, to keep them in good condition. More heavily deteriorated streets require more costly rehabilitation treatments, and failed streets require very expensive reconstruction treatments. In asset management terms, this is referred to as the “pay now or pay more later” paradigm.
Many factors contribute to pavement deterioration, including age, exposure to sunlight and rain, heavy traffic loads from buses and trucks, and utility cuts. Most of these factors are beyond the control of the City. However, since the pavement is within the public right-of-way, the City has sought to reduce the damage caused to the roadway pavement surface due to utility cuts for sewer, water, gas, electric, and telecommunications lines. The City requires pavement restoration after utility work is completed, and Richmond Municipal Code Section 12.29 discourages excavating in newly resurfaced streets by imposing extra work on utility companies to restore the pavement to a higher standard than would otherwise be required on a street that is not newly resurfaced.
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) requires all Bay Area municipalities to utilize an approved pavement management program to prioritize paving resources, as a condition for receiving regional, state, and federal funding for pavement maintenance and rehabilitation. The City has been utilizing the MTC StreetSaver® software platform for approximately 20 years.
The City’s consultant recently completed a city-wide pavement distress survey. The survey results indicate that the City of Richmond’s roadway pavement network has an overall weighted Pavement Condition Index (PCI) of 61. The PCI is a numeric grade that rates the condition of the roadway pavement surface, on a scale of 100 to 0, with 100 representing a brand-new pavement and 0 representing a completely failed pavement. A pavement network with an overall PCI of 61 is considered to be in “fair” condition (refer to table below). Each street segment in Richmond’s roadway pavement network received a PCI based on the observed condition of the segment.
Pavement Condition
Index (PCI)
Condition
0-25 Failed / Very Poor
25-50 Poor
50-70 Fair
70-100 Good / Very Good
The MTC StreetSaver® software platform includes budget analysis capabilities to help cities look at possible future pavement conditions based on different funding scenarios.
This can help the City Council decide how much to invest in the roadway pavement network. Current projections indicate that at the anticipated pavement rehabilitation funding level of $4 million per year, the PCI will decrease over the course of the next
February 6, 2024
five years to 55. In order for the City’s PCI to remain at the current level of 61, City staff recommend the City Council direct City staff to allocate an additional $11 million per year above and beyond the anticipated budget, for a sum total of approximately $15 million per year for the next five years.
StreetSaver® provides a planning level, prioritized list of streets representing the optimized distribution of paving funds. This “optimized” list will yield the highest PCI at the end of the five-year planning horizon.
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 – Pavement Presentation from NCE