BROKEN ARROW - The city's Streets and Stormwater Department completed a comprehensive inventory of all city streets last month, a task that City Manager Thom Moton termed "Herculean."
The eight-month process was a step toward creating a street maintenance plan that will be part of the city's five-year capital improvement program. The program will be presented to the City Council early next year for possible adoption in June.
"There's always been some effort to assess streets when there was a need to make repairs, maintenance or improvements," Moton said. "What we're trying to do now, though, is formalize the process."
Through the inventory, street conditions have been classified as poor, fair or good.
Streets and Stormwater Department Director Steve Arant said every roadway in the city was assessed. Broken Arrow has about 950 lane miles.
"It is a phenomenal task to get done," Moton said.
Arant said the city sought to complete a comprehensive study in the past by hiring a contractor - the way many cities do it - but the cost was prohibitive.
"So we decided about a year ago to turn internally and use what we have available," he said.
Moton said that since 1997, about $76.9 million in bond money has been devoted to street projects.
"Certainly, when I look at that, it provides further affirmation for the need to have a formal process to classify and inventory roadways and then to actually have a maintenance program," he said.
Although the initial assessment of the roads is complete, Arant said his department is still assessing sidewalks, drainage structures and other factors that will determine the cost of fixing each street.
"One poor road could be a lot more per foot than another poor road, depending on what you'd need to do to that road," he said.
"So we're trying to refine our costs better."
Once the classification of all roads is complete, the city will consider a variety of factors - including traffic volume, age of roadways and planned development - before prioritizing projects.
A preliminary sampling of the inventory was shown to councilors at a study session last month. Moton expects a final plan, including suggested priorities and costs, to be ready within three months.
The plan is expected to be presented to the council at a study session in January, which will give councilors and city residents an opportunity to provide feedback about priorities before it goes to voters in June.
Moton said having an official maintenance plan - and a capital improvement program - is beneficial for the city.
It will provide transparency, help all departments coordinate projects and aid staff in identifying opportunities for cost savings, as well as help the city develop future bond programs, he said.
The program would be updated every two years.
Moton said the city has not, in recent years, had a capital improvement program that has been officially adopted by the council.
"We're a large organization, and we're growing rapidly," he said, adding that having an adopted capital improvement program is a "best practice," one followed in comparable communities.
"Eventually, you get to a point where the scale of complexity of your organization pretty much pushes you to formalize what you're doing," Moton said.
Nour Habib 918-581-8369
nour.habib@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Review of city streets finished
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