The City of Phoenix Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee unanimously approved the 2018 and 2019 citywide pavement maintenance program on Tuesday in an effort to find a solution for the degradation of downtown roads.
The lifespan of Phoenix roads is reduced due to utility companies’ pavement cuts to lay underground utility wires, even when utility companies are properly repaving the roads, according to Kini L.E. Knudson, a city engineer for Street Transportation Department.
Damage to the roads seal is not properly corrected, allowing water and other elements to ruin the asphalt.
The department is in talks with utility companies to preserve downtown roads, saving the city money.
Knudson said the culprit for the degrading roads is not the utility companies, but outdated language in the pavement cut ordinance from 1987.
Mark Glock, the deputy director of the Street Transportation Department presented information found from surveys conducted once every two years by administering technology to measure the roughness and cracks in the roadways.
Historically, Phoenix fixes pavement cuts by a mill and overlay procedure, resurfacing the top-layer of the road, according to Glock.
“This isn’t the best bang for our buck,” Glock said.
The passing of Transportation 2050 in August of 2015 allowed the city to implement solutions to a larger portion of city streets and use a higher quality crack and micro seal solution applied to slow down the erosion of the roads.
A large portion of the estimated $2.3 billion coming to the City of Phoenix Street Transportation Department through Transportation 2050 will be funding city road maintenance Knudson said.
The Street Transportation Department believes that Phoenix needs to do a better job of protecting taxpayer’s investment in Transportation 2050, Knudson said, prompting officials to look at what other cities in the valley’s pavement ordinances dictated.
The city of Phoenix estimated 7,440 pavement cuts by utility companies in 2015 over 5,000 miles, reducing the lifetime of the roads significantly.
Kendra Lee, an APS franchise and outreach consultant, said APS’s major concern is communication with the city.
“If we need to alter our pavement cut plans, we can if we know ahead of time,” Lee said.
Lee said she would not anticipate any issues ahead from APS and things seem to be headed in the right direction and that both APS and Phoenix were “on the same page” so far.
The new ordinance proposed adjusted fees for utility companies, an adjusted length of time after paving before a company can cut and stricter repair guidelines. Surcharge applications would be restructured to extend 45 or 60 months following pavement instead of the current 30. There are no hard dates set for when a new ordinance will be written.
Currently, there are no major plans from either APS to cut into downtown Phoenix roads, Lee said.
“Our goal is to present the council with a proposal for approval that utility companies can feel just as good about, or as good as possible,” Knudson said.
Contact the reporter at melissa.stocks@asu.edu
