A message from Marana Public Works Director, Mo El-Ali, originally published by Tucson Local Media.
Thanks to the Town’s strategic investments in pavement preservation, you would have a hard time finding a pothole in Marana. For Fiscal Year 2020-21, Marana Town Council approved over five million dollars in funding for the pavement preservation program, which will extend the life of our roads and prevent costly repairs.
The maintenance of roads is a core Town service. Not only are they important for our Town and our regional economy, but good roads allow commerce to move from place to place, provide for efficient response during emergencies, get residents to work on time, and help get kids to school safely. Paved roads are, by far, the Town’s primary mode of transportation.
The largest and most expensive portion of the Town’s infrastructure is literally under our feet –or our tires. Managing and preserving the enormous investment is our goal.
The Town maintains 575 lane miles of asphalt pavement, and the goal of the Pavement Preservation Program is to be proactive in the maintenance and preservation of Town roads. This can delay the rate of deterioration of the pavement, improve pavement condition, increase safety, and provide higher customer satisfaction while reducing the overall maintenance costs and liability.
Asphalt pavement is designed to be flexible, allowing it to adapt to the wide temperature swings that occur in Arizona. Following initial construction, the pavement begins the process of oxidation, which is basically the evaporation of the oils in the pavement. Over time, the pavement becomes dry, brittle, and less flexible. Cracks can start to show in the early years of new pavement. To limit deterioration, cracks are filled with a high-quality sealant material to prevent infiltration of water into the underlying pavement layers, thus preventing potholes. A fog seal is used to rejuvenate the pavement that is starting to oxidize, which helps the road become flexible again. Research and experience have shown that crack and fog sealing programs are very cost-effective in extending the life of pavement.
And because applying pavement preservation treatments is faster than rehabilitating and reconstructing existing pavements, pavement preservation efforts contribute to improved pavement performance, increased mobility, improved work zone safety, a high return on investment (20 to 30 times higher) and improved overall customer satisfaction.
The Town has been investing in annual pavement preservation since 2012-13, averaging $1,250,000 on surface treatments in the program’s eight years. Funding for the roadway surface treatments is primarily from the Highway User Revenue Funds (HURF) otherwise known as the Gas tax. In the current fiscal year, Council approved an additional $3.5 million for pavement preservation from the Construction Sales tax. Adequate funding, coupled with strategic and systematic management by the pavement preservation team, have ensured that our roads are among the best in the region and state.
Pavement preservation is also a greener approach to getting the most life out of roads. A pavement preservation approach is known to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, consume less energy, saves on resources, and provides faster application times than the alternative conventional approach of reconstructing roads.
The Town uses the Overall Condition Index (OCI), a grading system, to determine the type of treatment that will be applied. The Town’s pavement preservation team generates a five-year list of roadway locations that is updated annually based on the OCI, in which Town staff catalogs, assesses, evaluates and prioritizes all roadway segments throughout the Town based on the current and projected pavement condition, and type of treatment that would sustain or improve the pavement condition. Roadways that are designated for a minor or moderate surface treatment are given a higher priority. A minor treatment would be along the line of a crack seal or fog seal, where a moderate treatment would be akin to a chip seal. If a roadway can no longer be preserved, it goes to a capital improvement program, where it would be reconstructed or resurfaced.
The pavement preservation system has altered the way we think about roadway maintenance and preservation. Fixing streets in the worst condition first may seem like common sense, but it is actually not the most efficient or cost-effective way to proceed. Rather than exhausting a budget to reconstruct a one-mile stretch of roadway in poor condition, we may be able to preserve or treat 10 miles in less dire condition with the same budget. The Town of Marana provides a quality pavement maintenance program to extend the lifecycle of asphalt pavements up to 40 years, saving taxpayers money while providing safe and efficient roadways.
This year’s work is well underway, with the application of surface treatments to local, collector, and arterial roads throughout the Town. When you drive through Marana, you will notice Public Works personnel and contractors out on the roadways performing pavement preservation activities. While this work may seem like an inconvenience, it’s also one of the reasons Town roads have earned a reputation for being among the best.
