PART I: 2007 Pavement Management and Truck Impact Fee Study

ABSTRACT: Over the next three days, PARTS I, II & III: 2007 Pavement Management and Truck Impact Fee Study will be presented. PART I will present a verbatim text of the Nichols Consulting Engineers “Final Pavement Management Program;” it includes Background, Purpose, Network Description, Pavement Current Condition, Scenarios 1-3, Discussion and Recommendations and Summary. PART II will present the content of the power point presentation to the public at the 5 February 2008 City Council meeting by the Nichols Consulting Engineers consultant. PART III will present COMMENTS on the “Final Pavement Management Program,” the power point presentation, et cetera. For background, the City Council unanimously voted to approve a “Resolution entering into an agreement with Nichols Consulting Engineers for a 2007 Pavement Management and Truck Impact Fee study” at their March 13, 2007 City Council meeting. The “Final Pavement Management Program” was submitted by Nichols Consulting Engineers to the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea in December 2007.


PART I: 2007 Pavement Management and Truck Impact Fee Study

Herewith is the verbatim text of the Nichols Consulting Engineers “Final Pavement Management Program.”

NICHOLS CONSULTING ENGINEERS, CHTD.
Engineering and Environmental Services
501 Canal Blvd., Suite I
Richmond, CA. 94804
(501) 215-3620



City of Carmel-by-the-Sea

Final Pavement Management Program
Executive Summary, Inventories
and Budget Analysis Reports



Submitted to:

City of Carmel-by-the-Sea
P.O. Box CC
Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA. 93921


December 2007


Background

Nichols Consulting Engineers, Chtd. (NCE) was selected by the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea to perform pavement condition surveys on the entire pavement network. The network is comprised of approximately 27 total pavement network centerline miles and consists of 32 arterial, 30 collector, 17 other, and 122 residential sections.

The decision trees of the pavement maintenance strategy were modified by the Project Manager and the City in order to incorporate some essential seals and overlays and to accommodate the large number of sections with surface type “ST.” In addition the unit costs were updated and modeled after those of Santa Cruz County, a neighboring jurisdiction. Then, a pavement maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) budget needs analysis was performed. In addition, three budget scenarios were analyzed. This report presents an executive summary of our analyses.

Purpose

The purpose of this report is to assist decision makers in utilizing the results of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) Pavement Management Program (PMP). Specifically, this report links the PMP recommended repair program costs to the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea’s current and projected budget alternatives to improve overall maintenance and rehabilitation strategies. This report accesses the adequacy of ideal and projected revenues to meet the maintenance needs recommended by the PMP program. It also maximizes the return from expenditures by:

(1) implementing a multi-year road rehabilitation and maintenance program;
(2) developing a preventive maintenance program; and
(3) selecting the most cost effective repairs.

This report assists the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea with identifying maintenance priorities specific to its needs. This study examines the overall condition of the road network and highlights options for improving the current network-level pavement condition index (PCI). These options are developed by conducting “what-if” analyses using the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea pavement management system database. By varying the budget amounts available for pavement maintenance and repair, one can show how different funding strategies can impact the City’s roads over the next ten years.

Network Description

The City of Carmel-by-the-Sea is responsible for the repair and maintenance of approximately 27 centerline miles of pavement, or 201 pavement sections. The table below summaries the lengths of the road network by functional class.

Table 1: Network Summary Statistics for the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea (Summary)
Functional Class % of the Network (by Pavement Area)
Arterial 23.9%
Collector 14.0%
Residential/Local 53.8%
Other 8.2%

Arterials are classified as those streets which are “scenic routes” in the City. These are identified as such because of their condition priority over the rest of the network. These sections were identified by the City. Those sections that were formerly classified as arterials but were not on this scenic route are classified as collectors.

The network replacement cost is defined as the reconstruction of all the pavement sections in the City. The network replacement cost of the City’s pavements is estimated at $34.4 million.

Pavement Current Condition

The pavement condition index, or PCI, is a measurement of pavement grade or condition and ranges from 0 to 100. A newly constructed road would have a PCI of 100, while a failed road would have a PCI of 20 or less. The average 2007 PCI of the street network of the City is 74. Note that this is the current weighted average PCI.

Figure 1 illustrates the definitions of the pavement condition categories Table 2 provides the network pavement condition breakdowns by PCI ranges or condition categories.

Table 2 and Figure 2 (Summary):
Pavement Condition Summary by Condition Categories (2008)
Good Condition PCI Range 70-100): 55.9% of Entire Network
Fair Condition (PCI Range 40-69): 39.1% of Entire Network
Poor Condition (PCI Range 20-39): 4.7% of Entire Network
Very Poor PCI less than 20): 0.3% of Entire Network

Scenario 1: Unconstrained (Needs) Budget

The pavement needs are approximately $9 million with $2.2 million in the first year. In order to eliminate the backlog with the most efficient budget schedule we have modeled this scenario closely to the “needs” budget calculated by StreetSaver. Using a total budget of $8.92 million over ten years, the network PCI will increase to 78 from the 2008 projected level of 70. By the year 2017, the entire network will fall into the “Good to Excellent” condition category. In the meantime, the maintenance backlog will be eliminated by year 1.

Cost Summary:
Rehabilitation $7,573,341
Preventive Maintenance $1,166,948
TOTAL: $8,740,289

Scenario 2: Maintain PCI ($660k per year)
The results of this scenario indicate that with annual budget of $660,000, the network will maintain its projected 2008 value of 70. In addition, about 61.4% of the network will fall into the “Good to Excellent” condition category by 2017. The percentage of roads in the “Poor” to “Failed” condition categories increases by about 5% from 5% in 2008 to 9.9% in 2017. Also, the deferred maintenance increases $1.45 million in 2008 to $3.81 million in 2017.

Cost Summary:
Rehabilitation $5,589,609
Preventive Maintenance $780,777
Funded Stop Gap $66,838
TOTAL: $6,437,224

Scenario 3: Current Funding Level (City Budget)

The results of this scenario indicate that the network PCI will decrease to 57 from the 2008 projected level of 70, and about 42.7% of the network will fall into the “Good to Excellent" condition category by 2017. The percentage of roads in the “Poor” or “Failed” condition categories increases by 19% from 5% in 2008 to 24% in 2017. Consequently, the backlog of work increases from $2 million in 2008 to $8.4 million in 2017.

Cost Summary:
Rehabilitation $3,040,228
Preventive Maintenance $404,376
Funded Stop Gap $107,265
Unmet Stop Gap $1,683
TOTAL: $3,551,869

Discussion and Recommendations

Of the various maintenance and funding options considered, the ideal strategy for the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea is presented in Scenario 2, the Maintain PCI Budget. The reason being this plan will at least maintain the 2008 projected PCI.

In Scenario 3, the City’s Current Funding Level, the network PCI will be 57 in ten years. Since this scenario also funds a particularly limited number of projects for 2008 and 2009, the amount of sections in the “Good to Excellent” condition decreases by 13.2% over the course of the ten year analysis. In addition, the percentage of streets in the “Poor” to “Failed” conditions will increase by 19%, from 5% in 2008 to 24% by the end of the analysis period. This is a result in a lack of funds to sustain the network’s good condition. In addition, the amount of deferred maintenance will increase four fold. The recent decision tree alterations do provide an effective schedule of treatments for the entire network.

Appendix C provides a cost and network condition summary for each of the proposed budget scenarios.

Summary

To summarize, the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea has a substantial investment of $34.4 million in their roadway network. Overall, the network is in “Good” condition with a network PCI of 74. Of the 27 centerline miles of road, just over half (55.9%) of the streets fall into the “Good to Excellent” condition category. However, the remaining portion of the streets requires a significant amount of money to bring them into the “Good to Excellent” condition category.

Since the Maintain PCI Budget enough funds to the Pavement Management Program that the network maintains its 2008 projected condition, it is recommended that the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea increase its funding level to $660,000 per year for ten years.