Posted: 7:25 p.m.Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015

Fixing Middletown’scrumbling streets carries hefty price tag

By Ed Richter

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — 

Askmost Middletonians and they’ll tell you that the city’s streets are in terribleshape.

Fixingthe city’s network of cracked, crumbling and pothole-laden roads will be apricey proposition that won’t happen quickly. According to recent city costestimates, it would take $162 million to reconstruct, repair and improve Middletown’s streets. A dauntingtask that would require the city to spend about $8.1 million a year, or roughlyfour times what it spends on average, to get the job done.

Ata recent Middletown City Council work-session, City Manager Doug Adkinspresented these very preliminary cost estimates and shared other informationwith council members about how the city could raise additional revenues to fixits streets.

Someof the suggestions made by Adkins included moving the costs of street lightingfrom the city to property owners as other area communities have done, whichwould raise about $800,000 a year; placing a 0.25 percent income tax increasethat would be dedicated to streets and would generate about $3 million a year;or a property tax increase that would be dedicated for street repairs orimprovements. In 2014, one mill of city property tax generated about $620,000,he said.

“Wehave to get the best bang for the buck,” Adkins said. “It’s going to be abalancing act with scarce resources.”

Accordingto information provided by Scott Tadych, the city’s public works and utilitiesdirector, the city maintains 621 lane miles of roads. Of that amount, 333 lanemiles or about 54 percent are rated fair to satisfactory, or scored between 56to 100, according to the 2013 Pavement Condition Index that the city conductedthat year, evaluating every street block by block. Tadych said the 2015 PCIsurvey is expected to be updated later this fall and would provide anothersnapshot of the city’s street conditions.

Thereare 174 lane miles or 28 percent that have a PCI of 41 to 55 that are ratedpoor, while the remaining 113 lane miles or 18 percent have a PCI of 0 to 40and are rated very poor or failed. Tadych estimated the cost to improve that 46percent of streets in poor or very poor/failed at $60 million alone.

“Thiswould be a huge undertaking to get caught up,” Tadych said. “The whole goal isto avoid having poor or very poor/failed streets, and we also need money tomaintain streets to prevent them from slipping back.”

Hesaid in the first five years of a proposed 20-year plan, the city would spendnearly $860,000 just in preventative maintenance to keep the 114 lane miles or18 percent of streets to remain in satisfactory condition.

Thecosts to repair streets range from $1.07 per square yard for crack sealing andminor patching to $33.31 per square yard to fully reconstruct a street with 6.5inches of asphalt that would also include handicap ramps and spot curb repairs.

Middletown spends an average ofabout $2.2 million a year for street and road improvements outside of state andfederal grants. In 2014, the city spent about $4.2 million, including state andfederal grants. Tadych said earlier this year spending about $6 million a year“would be a good start” in alleviating the city’s street and road issues. As inpast years, Tadych said the city will continue to leverage local funds withstate and federal grants to do the most paving and reconstruction as it can.

Adkinssaid about 15 percent of the overall costs might be covered through stategrants, but the city most likely would still be responsible for local matchfunding in order to receive a grant. He also said the normal pavement life,depending on the traffic volumes can range from 15 to 25 years.

In2014, the city tax revenues did better than projected and allowed council tomove about $750,000 into a 2015 paving program that was not originallybudgeted, enabling several streets to be paved and repaired this year.

Tadychbelieves there will be a local paving program in the 2016 budget along with twoother major project being undertaken using state and federal funds: a $970,000repaving of Ohio 4 between Girard Street and Tytus Avenue of which the city ispaying about $495,000; and the total reconstruction, widening and new waterlines along Oxford State Road from Yankee Road to Spurling Way, a nearly $6million project that includes $3.85 million in federal and state funding. In2017, the city will be widening and repairing Yankee Road between Oxford State Road and Lafayette Avenue.

CouncilmanDan Picard said the city has many side streets “that are really bad.”