A high-tech way of assessing streets could soon end the city council’s longtime practice of dividing money for paving projects evenly among Columbus’ six wards.
At least, that’s what Mayor Stephen Jones and City Engineer Kevin Stafford are hoping.
During the council’s work session Thursday at City Hall, Stafford presented a proposal from Austin-based company Fugro to conduct the city’s first street assessment since 2000. For roughly $80,000, he said, the company can simply drive the city’s 300.7 road miles while its automatic road analyzer vehicle collects data along the way.
The data will measure things like road size and condition, including texture, rutting and areas of distress. It can also analyze the condition of sidewalks, road signs, striping, parking and traffic signals.
“Twenty-five years ago, we would do that in person,” Stafford said. “You’d actually ride the streets, measure them. It (was) a by-hand, human error type approach to assessing the conditions of your streets. … These vehicles ride the streets and actually do the assessments. … It takes the human error out. Obviously, it’s done much quicker, and in my opinion, a whole lot cheaper.”
Several companies provide similar services, but Stafford told The Dispatch that Fugro “is the one we’ve used the most that’s given us the best, most reliable data,” when working with other cities. He hopes to get Fugro representatives to Columbus soon to present to the council.
Once the data is collected, Neel-Schaffer, the firm where Stafford serves as North Mississippi manager, would use other third party software – at an additional cost to the city – to “massage” it and “play scenarios” to determine the most effective street improvement program.
“You could say, ‘We now have all our streets assessed. I want to bring everything up to a B grade in the next 10 years. How much money do I need to put toward a paving management program in order to meet that goal?” Stafford said during the work session.
It could also mean taking the $2.4 million the city receives in internet use tax revenue annually, which is designated for roads and bridges, and projecting how long it would take to bring all streets up to a certain grade.
Stafford said those scenarios could also look at paving preservation, such as sealants and other intermittent measures that could extend the life of a street between full pavement overlays. He recommended only using that for residential streets, however, not major thoroughfares.
“It’s not a structural fix,” he said. “It’s literally preservation of the surface, and it buys you time when money is tight. … When you put the lipstick on the pig, you can still see the pig underneath it over time.”
All of this data would equip the council to put street money where it is most needed, something for which Stafford said he has “always advocated.”
Jones, likewise, told The Dispatch a data-driven street assessment is overdue, and he hopes it will steer the council toward fixing streets that need it instead of focusing so heavily on which ward a street lies.
“It will help take the paving out of the hands of individuals,” Jones said. “We can use data to support what roads actually need to be paved. We don’t have to fight about it anymore.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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