Millions of dollars in street improvements will roll out to every part of Texarkana, Texas, this year, according to a plan the City Council approved Monday.
A high-tech survey of every Texas-side street last year resulted in a list of nearly 100 repair and maintenance projects to be financed by a $3 million fund the city established in its most recent budget. Contractor bidding will begin later this month, to be followed by a schedule in mid-May and work beginning around June 1, said Dusty Henslee, Public Works director.
"As long as we get good construction weather, I think we can get it all done (in 2018)," Henslee said.
Projects will range from preventive maintenance to complete reconstruction, based on the survey's scoring of pavement condition.
The city commissioned Orlando, Fla.-based Data Transfer Solutions to conduct the survey using vans equipped with digital cameras and laser devices that capture images of pavement at 25-foot intervals. DTS software and engineers then rated the images and scored street segments on a 100-point scale called the Pavement Condition Index.
About 57 percent of Texas-side pavement is rated satisfactory, with a PCI of 71 to 85; or good, with a PCI of more than 85. Another 27 percent of city pavement is rated fair, with a PCI of 56 to 70. The remaining 16 percent is rated poor, very poor or serious. The average PCI for all the asphalt in the city is about 70 and for concrete about 67.
DTS then created a prioritized, five-year list of projects based on the city's $3 million budget for this year and a forecast of $1 million a year for the next four.
Some of the projects DTS recommended were for segments of roadway as short as 100 feet. Public Works had DTS reset the parameters to a minimum length of a block, about 500 to 600 feet, and create a new list.
"Just from a contracting standpoint and a project list, we felt it was a better way to get some of these done, instead of doing the smaller sections. Also there were some instances in there where some of the majorly traveled roadways, such as 40th Street and Cooks Lane, they may have had multiple sections to do, not the entire street. We felt it was better to go ahead while we're there and redo the whole street," Henslee told the council Monday.
Funding for the work comes from a maintenance fund the city established in January with money it moved from the Texarkana Water Utilities fund to balance the Fiscal Year 2018 budget.
A preliminary list of all 97 projects for 2018, and maps showing their location and extent, are in the agenda packet for the council's April 9 meeting, which is available on the city's website at texarkanacitytx.iqm2.com/Citizens/Default.aspx. The city will publish a finalized list and maps after they are adjusted to account for contractors' winning bids, Communication Manager Lisa Thompson said.
Spots where the pavement will be pulverized and rebuilt from the ground up include West 23rd Street between Spruce and Olive streets; Findley Street between Idaho and Utah streets; and West 37th and 38th streets between Hazel Street and North State Line Avenue.
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