Atascadero City Manager discusses road repairs
Atascadero City Manager Rachelle Rickard.
News from the City
By City Manager Rachelle Rickard
–The City of Atascadero maintains 145 centerline miles of paved roads, which includes paved roads and shoulders, signage, painted curbs, painted traffic markings, crosswalks, culverts, city-owned ditches, drainage structures, tree trimming, brush cutting, weed abatement, pick-up and disposal of dead animals in city rights-of-way, and more. Throughout the history of our community, Atascadero’s roadway upkeep has always been and continues to be extremely challenging to maintain and operate with limited resources available.
In 2014, Atascadero voters approved a half-cent Sales Tax Measure known as Measure F-14. Revenue generated by F-14 is utilized by the city with an emphasis on repairing neighborhood and connecting roads rather than thoroughfares such as El Camino Real. In June of 2015 and just a short time after the city received the first revenue payments generated by Measure F-14, the highest priority road repair and maintenance projects funded by the measure were begun. Continually reviewing and optimizing the use of F-14 generated funding is one of the city’s top priorities.
The city uses the “Critical Point Management” (CPM) methodology system. This system prioritizes and selects roadways that can have their useful life extended by the longest amount of time with cost-effective maintenance and less expensive repairs. It works something like maintaining your own vehicle – by regularly focusing on relatively inexpensive routine maintenance and repairs, you can avoid expensive repair bills and breakdowns in the future. Similarly, when pavement conditions deteriorate, the cost to fix that roadway increases substantially. Replacement of a failed street is typically 25 to 30 times more costly than the amount required to maintain a road in good condition.
Every city-maintained roadway is regularly inspected and the conditions are entered into the program that develops a prioritization list for each roadway and the needed repairs. Each roadway also has a Pavement Condition Index (PCI) number assigned to it, which is on a 100-point scale. A higher PCI score indicates a road in better condition. In 2014, Atascadero’s overall PCI rating for all 145 miles of roadway came in with a score of 47 and at that time, predictions were that by 2019 our overall PCI rating would decline by three points, to a level of 44. However, thanks to CPM and Measure F-14 funding, in 2019 Atascadero’s PCI rating had actually increased to 50 points! That increase is significant as it demonstrates that our CPM methodology and the road repair projects completed thus far is working well.
