With summer already unofficially underway, Marysville officials are getting ready for repaving season.
Mike Andrako, Marysville Public Service Director, said the city will begin a variety of projects beginning in June. He said the city needs to wait on the contractors which should be ready, “in a couple weeks.”
Marysville Project Manager Marc Dilsaver said that other than work already under way on West Fifth Street, the city “doesn’t have a lot.”
He said that while West Fifth Street is busy, crews have kept traffic moving and, “I am not sure we have had any complaints about traffic going through there.”
Dilsaver said there is also work already being done on South Plum Street, between Ninth and Eleventh Streets.
“The culvert was in extreme disrepair,” Dilsaver said.
That work is corresponding with a lot of work in that area, including expansion at Memorial Hospital and park land improvements at the intersection of London Avenue and Ninth Street.
Officials also said there will be water line work done on North Plum Street, between Fourth and Fifth Street.
“That project will close Plum Street to local traffic only,” Dilsaver said.
He said crews will continue connecting homes to the newly installed water main on West Third Street. Officials said that because of the number of homes on the street, it is taking longer than water main projects on other routes.
The city is replacing sidewalks on West Fifth Street and also doing what officials termed “spot repairs” to a variety of other sidewalks.
This year the city has allocated $1.3 million specifically for street repaving. Officials said they typically aim for about $1.5 million. Andrako explained that number. He said a street repaving should last about 25 years. He said $1.5 million should repave about 4% of the total streets in the city. He said that if the city paves 4 percent each year, by the end of the pavement life cycle, all of the city streets should be repaved.
“This way, you are also going to have some pavement in all of the life cycle so we aren’t needing to replace all of streets at once,” Andrako said.
Dilsaver said the 4 percent is more important than the dollar amount.
“Our goal is always to get as close to that 4 percent as we can,” Dilsaver said.
But officials acknowledge there could be reasons why the city misses that specific mark.
Officials said pavement budgets are difficult to predict, because they can be adjusted.
“We have a budget to meet,” Andrako said.
He said if a particular council has other priorities or if another project demands more money, the paving budget can be reduced.
“Paving is always discretionary,” Andrako said. “We can decide year to year how much to spend on paving.”
He added, “You can pave as many as you have money for.”
Officials said there could also be years when grant funding or other opportunities make it financially wise to spend more money on paving projects or more money on other projects.
Andrako said that while this year’s number looks a little short, there are funds coming from other departments that will be used to improve streets. He used the example of West Fifth Street. He said the city is wrapping up storm sewer repairs on the street. Andrako said the streets will be milled, a sealant will be applied and the street will be repaved. So, while much of the project is being paid through that fund, it will still result in new pavement.
City officials reminded the public that each fall, crews drive each city street and give it a rating to determine which are in need of greatest repair.
Andrako said that when the rating system began in 2015, about 18 percent of the city streets were in “poor” condition with 53 percent receiving a “good” rating. Through the improvement plan, when crews evaluated the streets last autumn, just 9 percent were in “poor” shape while 56 percent received a “good” rating.
City officials also asked the public to slow down and be patient with the crews on the street.
“Orange barrels are a sign of progress,” Dilsaver said. “At the end of the day, we are going to have a better product.”
He added, “through these construction projects, there will be inconveniences, we just ask for patience and understanding.”