Residents are complaining to Town staff and council members about rough, pot-holed streets that shake their vehicles and sometimes even cause vehicle damage.

This is a small part of what has been the Town’s ongoing challenge to maintain the vast amount of asphalt pavement that makes up the streets. The issue has even become something of a political point of contention with discussion of a “streets first” fiscal strategy. This is not so much a point of disagreement – pavement management has been at the top of the council priorities for a decade or so. The financial resources to get the work done is a significant obstacle.

The Town dedicates .2 percent of the revenue it receives from its local Transaction Privilege Tax (sales tax) to the Streets Fund for pavement maintenance. That is projected to be $1.2 million for the current fiscal year, but declining somewhat next fiscal year. The Town also receives revenue from the state Highway Users Revenue Fund (HURF), which is used in all Street Department operations including asphalt maintenance. Staff projects $1.9 million in HURF revenue for the current fiscal year. Those sources come to just over $3 million in ongoing revenue, about half of what the Town projects is needed for annual street maintenance (Street Department operations not related to asphalt maintenance come out of that).

The Town’s Public Works Director, Justin Weldy, reported to the Town Council April 18 that over the past seven fiscal years, $14.85 million has been invested in street maintenance and this includes a range of maintenance processes from pothole repair, pavement repair, crack sealing, asphalt seal treatment and curb repairs.

In his report to the council, Weldy stated, “an effective pavement preservation program will address pavements while they are still in good condition and before the onset of serious damage.

“By applying a cost-effective treatment at the right time, the pavement is restored almost to its original condition.

“As a major component of pavement preservation, pavement maintenance is a strategy of extending the service life by applying cost-effective treatments to the surface of structurally sound pavement.”

The inadequate financial resources have resulted in the Town being unable to maintain the basic preservation process. There are many streets in Town, built pre-incorporation, that have reached the point where they need to be reconstructed. An ultimate goal would be to have all streets brought back to prime condition where they can be maintained in good condition through the preservation program.

The council has adopted a pavement condition index (PCI) standard of 60-70 for arterial streets, 50-60 for collector streets and 50-55 for local streets. Currently there are a significant number of streets with a PCI of 40 or below, a point where they need to be rebuilt.

The PCI is determined through a high-tech evaluation of the pavement using laser technology. The Town has had a couple of pavement condition studies done most recently within the past year to assist a citizen ad-hoc streets committee with its work toward a recommendation for long-term pavement management.

The company that conducted the pavement analysis has not yet completed its final evaluation for the committee. Once that information is available the committee will finalize its recommendations to the council, including financial options. Weldy said they believe the committee will be reporting to the council before the annual summer break by the council.

The Town has available approximately $10 million in federal CARES and ARPA funds (COVID recovery) to begin a pavement reconstruction program on some pre-incorporation streets. Weldy said they have had to delay this work while waiting for utility clearance. Before the majority of street maintenance projects, reconstruction, mill and overlay and even slurry work, the Town makes sure all necessary utility work in these streets is complete. The Town does not want to complete new pavement projects only to have a utility come back within a year or so wanting to tear up the asphalt.

The first of two reconstruction projects is an estimated $5 million in work planned for the coming fiscal year.