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City Scoop Continued

Dedicated to the sunshine of truth,

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and the starshine of Victoria.

STREETS CONTINUED.

         "We're always trying to look five years ahead," said Cara.  "The majority of city streets are now in good condition and on schedule for continued routine maintenance.  Most streets have been reconstructed or built new.  Maintenance does need to be done at the right time, otherwise it's not as effective."

         "It is my experience that prior to 2005, you basically had half your roads in good condition and half in terrible condition.  Today your roads are in really good shape.  We rebuild roads at 7 ton standards to save costs on assessments.  New roads are built to 9 ton standards.  Council tries to balance need and cost."

         "What is our prioritization process?" she asked, rhetorically.  "The city has an inventory of every street segment in the city -- how wide it is, when it was seal coated, when overlaid and we've looked out 20 years for continued maintenance activities.  It is a living breathing document that we update annually."

         When doing the crack sealing and sealcoating, up to every seven years, Cara said the city tries to combine streets or segments of streets for a better price and project, recognizing that "not all streets in one neighborhood were built at the same time."

         The same with overlays, which are programmed to 20 years.  "Having a larger project has the potential to save money," she said.  In determining pavement condition, "I don't drive every segment of every road every year, but I keep an eye of them."

         Cara said that in 2007 Victoria started reclaiming streets and adding draintile.  "This is cheaper than a reconstruction," she  said.  "Woodstone Drive was falling apart.  We ground up the pavement and added class 5 aggregate and laid draintile.  It's about 40% of the cost of reconstruction.  Those streets are holding up pretty well."

         But roads like 78th Street, which will be reconstructed next year, are beyond their useful life.  "I'd like to do all the streets in this condition, but that's a big number, maybe $10 million," she said.  "The council sets the budget so I have to prioritize.  Timing becomes really important."

         She said that Victoria also has "unplanned improvements," streets that need to be reconstructed but they're not on a definitive schedule.  "Stieger Lake Lane is unplanned," she said, citing that it received a temporary new surface to accommodate increased traffic in 2012 because of the Hwy 5 project and closure.  "We're not going to do Stieger Lake Lane until the 13.5 acres get developed.  Marsh Lake Road is also unplanned."

         Cara presented several maps that reveal which streets in Victoria are subject to the various maintenance procedures in which year, both crack sealing/seal coating and overlay, over the next five years.  Estimated cost for the combined projects over the next five years amounts to over $2.2 million.  "These numbers get big because of the overlays," she said.

         Another map showed which Victoria streets Cara is targeting for capital improvements such as reclamation and draintile over the next five years at a total projected cost of $12 million.  Marsh Lake Road alone could cost nearly $4 million.

         Cara said she is able to coordinate some street projects with neighboring cities of Shorewood and Tonka Bay.  "This should give us better costs, and it's good to collaborate with the neighbors," she said.  Cara pointed out that the process of improving streets in Victoria involves city council approvals of plans, contracts, bids, and assessments along the way.

         At the end of the presentation, Mayor Tom O'Connor stated, "This is really impressive.  I didn't realize how involved the process was -- geographically, procedurally, and financially."  Colored graphs and charts in the presentation are being made available on the city's website.

        

STREET SNOWPLOWING

         "I personally prefer not to be talking about snow," said Public Works Director Ann Mahnke as she began her presentation at the April 14th workshop.

         "The Public Works Department is responsible for plowing streets and some trails to provide safe travel for emergency vehicles and residents," she said.  "We want to do them in a timely manner."  There are eight people in the Public Works Department plus seasonal staff.

         "There were 41 events this year in the snow season, 2013 to 2014, and I don't think we're done with the actual number," predicting more snow in April.  Indeed, there was an additional significant snow event on April 16th.  More snow has been predicted for Victoria.

         "We start operations after a 2-inch snowfall," she said.  Explaining a significant cost factor in snowplowing streets, she added, "Ten percent of those 41 events have occurred on a weekend.  Weekends  involve overtime pay."

         "Generally we start at 3 a.m. and we have three routes in the city plus the downtown.  I've got six employees on the three routes and two employees in downtown.  Then we've got the parking lot at the Recreation Center.  It can take from four hours to 12 hours.  A couple of times this year it was 16 hours."

 

Click here to continue Streets.

The Victoria GAZETTE

May 2014