Purpose

To provide the Council with an overview of the Public Works and Capital Projects Department�s sidewalk, street, and alley infrastructure program.

BACKGROUND

The City of Burbank enjoys a well-deserved reputation for being a clean, well-maintained community.  The overall good condition of our 227 miles of streets, 49 miles of alleys, and 366 miles of sidewalk contributes to this favorable image and helps enhance the quality of life and property values for our residents.  Our image also helps attract and retain quality businesses that contribute to the City�s economic vitality.  Burbank�s street, alley and sidewalk infrastructure is an important community asset � recent estimates by Financial Services� GASB 34 (Governmental Accounting Standards Board � Statement 34) consultant place the total replacement value around $258 million dollars.  Investing in timely maintenance to extend its useful life makes good economic sense.

Public Works is responsible for maintaining the City�s pavement infrastructure.  Historically, funding for this effort has come from a combination of sources, including General Fund allocations, State Gas Tax revenues, federal transportation funds, various grants, and special legislation.  The combined total of this funding changes from year to year, which poses challenges for long-range planning.  Furthermore, recent increases in concrete and asphalt prices have decreased the amount of repairs that can be completed with fixed budgets. Regardless of these challenges, Public Works is committed to doing its best to preserve the critical pavement infrastructure in the City. 

ANALYSIS

Despite the somewhat unpredictable annual funding allotments, the need to adjust project schedules to avoid conflicts with other projects, and construction cost escalation, Public Works has developed long-term programs to address the City�s sidewalk and street and alley repair needs.  A summary of each of these programs is provided in the following sections.

Sidewalk Program

Burbank�s beautiful tree-lined streets are an important part of what makes this city a desirable place to live and work.  However, sidewalks in the City are continuously being uplifted by mature street tree roots, causing potential hazards to pedestrians.  The City�s long-standing policy adopted in 1969 (Attachment 1) is that damage caused by street trees would be the City�s responsibility (damage or cracking due to other causes, e.g. excessive weight, remains the adjacent property owner�s responsibility).  As the urban forest has matured, tree-related sidewalk repair needs have increased.

The City�s sidewalk program is made up of four basic elements: 1) annual major sidewalk repair projects, 2) sidewalk repairs completed as part of major street improvement projects, 3) �spot� repairs by the City�s in-house concrete crews, and 4) grant-funded sidewalk projects.  In addition, the private sector is required to complete sidewalk repairs adjacent to new construction and reconstruction projects that require discretionary permit actions (e.g. development reviews, conditional use permits, etc.).  All of these efforts combined contribute to the upkeep of the estimated 9.6 million square feet of sidewalk in the City.

Annual major sidewalk repair contract:   In 2003, the Public Works Department revamped its approach to inventorying and correcting sidewalk damage throughout the City.  In the past, the City had staff traverse the entire City sidewalk system, entering each damaged area into a database and completing temporary repairs such as asphalt ramping where appropriate. Permanently repairing all identified locations in a timely fashion was infeasible due to budgetary constraints, and staff found that maintaining an inventory of damaged locations could expose the City to increased liabilities.  Furthermore, the inventory was housed on the City�s old mainframe computer system, which could not be easily accessed, so the list quickly became obsolete.

To address these issues, a revised approach was developed based on the City�s standard Public Works 20-section maintenance grid system (Figure 1).  In the first year of the new sidewalk maintenance approach (2003), Public Works surveyed and marked sidewalk upheavals for repair in grids number 1 and 20.  The marked locations were then included in a large General Fund capital improvement program (CIP) contract that was completed in July 2004.   In each subsequent year, another pair of grids will be selected (e.g. grids 2 and 19, grids 3 and 18, grids 4 and 17, etc.) until each grid has been addressed.  With this approach, over a 10-year period, the City�s sidewalks will have been surveyed and repaired.  The cycle will begin again in year 11. 

Since 2000, more than $1,690,000 in sidewalk repairs (comprising 489,624 square feet) have been completed as part of the major sidewalk repair contracts, which have been paid for from Fund 370, General Fund Capital Projects.  When the program was developed staff anticipated that between $400,000 and $500,000 per year would be needed to complete the 10-year cycle (the actual amount would depend upon the number of upheavals found in a particular section).  However, since that time concrete prices have practically doubled, and budget cuts have reduced the available funding to $200,000 per year for the foreseeable future.  Therefore, it is likely that the repair cycle will take more than 20 years to complete rather than 10 years as originally planned.

Sidewalk repairs associated with street improvement projects:  When the Public Works Department constructs a major street improvement project, any sidewalk damage along the project area is also typically repaired.  Since 2000, approximately $411,000 (97,000 square feet) in sidewalk repairs have been repaired in association with street improvement projects. 

Spot repairs by City staff:  The City�s concrete and asphalt crews in the Street Division are responsible for responding to calls from the public about damaged sidewalk.  The crews make temporary sidewalk repairs by ramping upheavals with asphalt or by grinding down smaller upheavals using a concrete grinder. The City crews also complete localized permanent repairs by removing and replacing selected panels of damaged concrete.  These crews have completed more than 190,000 square feet of sidewalk repairs since January 2000 and respond to more than 90% of sidewalk repair requests within 6 days.

Grant-funded sidewalk work:  Public Works staff works closely with other departments to pursue grant opportunities that can be used for sidewalk and other infrastructure repairs.  Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and Safe Routes to School are common sources of sidewalk repair funds.  CDBG funds have been a major source of money needed to install curb ramps throughout the City, and have also been used to repair uplifted sidewalk in CDBG-eligible areas.  Since 2000, approximately $329,000 in CDBG funding has been used to repair 85,000 square feet of sidewalk.  153 pedestrian ramps have also been installed. Staff estimates there are 50 locations where curb ramps could be installed.  Recurring CDBG funding for sidewalk repairs are uncertain due to the competing demands for this money.

In addition to CDBG funds, staff has pursued other grant funding for new sidewalks.  In 2004, $404,260 of the $750,000 in grant funds for the Chandler Boulevard were used to build more than 139,000 square feet of new sidewalk and bikeway on the Chandler Boulevard median, and $76,000 of a Safe Routes to School grant was used to install approximately 10,000 feet of new sidewalk along Winona Avenue, Ontario Street, and Kenneth Road.  Staff will continue to apply for grants for sidewalks as appropriate, but this is not a reliable ongoing source of funds.

Street and Alley Pavement Program

Overall Condition of Pavement.  In an effort to better manage the maintenance of the City�s 227 miles of streets, the Public Works Department adopted a revised pavement management system in 2002. This pavement management system was populated with updated information on the pavement condition of each block of roadway within the City.  The pavement condition for each section was assigned an overall condition index (OCI) value that ranges from 100 for pavement that is in perfect condition to 0 for pavement that is completely failed. The condition index is assigned by visually surveying a section of pavement and assigning it a �grade� for each type of pavement distress (e.g. type and extent of cracking, rutting, raveling, etc.). The OCI for each segment was developed by taking into consideration the pavement surface condition, level of distress, ride quality, and drainage.

The OCI rating scheme is as follows:
 

Table 1 - Overall Condition Index (OCI) Rating System

An overall OCI for each type of street function (e.g. arterial, collector, residential, or alley) in the City was calculated by multiplying the OCI rating for each pavement section times its area, adding them up, and then dividing by the total square footage of that type of street function.  Citywide, the weighted average was calculated based on the total of each functional class' OCI multiplied by its area, divided by the total square footage of streets in the City.

As reported by Berryman & Henigar, the consultant who prepared the 2002 updated pavement condition report, in Spring 2002, overall OCI for the City of Burbank�s pavement was just barely above the lower limit of the �Good� range with a weighted average of 55.8.  Since then, several large street improvement projects have been completed on City arterials (major projects have included portions of Olive Avenue, Alameda Avenue, Mariposa Street, Kenneth Road, Vanowen Street, and Magnolia Boulevard).  This work has brought our overall pavement OCI up to 58.0, which is still a �Good� overall rating.  The weighted averages for the various functional classifications of streets in the City are provided in the following table:

Table 2 - Weighted Average OCI by Functional Class

Since 2000, the City has constructed more than 17 street improvement and alley projects using outside contractors totaling $9,833,289.96.  In addition, the asphalt  crew in Public Works� Street Division fills potholes and makes spot repairs to streets and alleys, primarily focusing on the elimination of ponding water caused by tree root upheavals.

Future street improvement planning.    In developing its long-range work program for street improvement projects, the Public Works Department considers the functional street classification (e.g. arterial, collector, etc.) and the OCI. The recent focus has been on improving the condition of the City�s arterials and secondary arterials, which carry high volumes of vehicles (between 30,000 and 60,000 vehicles per day).  Collectors and residential streets with very low OCI�s (poor condition) are also high priorities. While the City�s alleys are in the overall worst condition (most are rated �Poor� to �Failed�), they carry the least amount of traffic and have a prima facie speed limit of 15 miles per hour per the California Vehicle Code.

All planned work is routed through the Department�s Quarterly Utility Coordination meeting where representatives from the City�s sewer, storm drain, water, and power and telecommunications groups, as well as outside cable, telecommunications, and gas departments discuss and coordinate projects to avoid conflicts. Public Works� street improvement projects are often postponed until after the other utilities have done their work in order to avoid making cuts into new pavement.

For future years, staff anticipates that if the current level of funding is maintained, the following amounts would be available for major street and alley improvement projects:

Table 3 - Anticipated Recurring Pavement Infrastructure Funding

With this current level of funding, it is unlikely the City could maintain its current overall OCI of 58.0.  Based on the data in the City�s pavement management system, staff estimates that about $2 million per year are needed simply to maintain the streets that are in �Good� to �Excellent� condition for as long as possible.  These maintenance efforts would generally involve an aggressive crack treatment program for fairly new pavements; fog sealing, slurry sealing, or cape sealing on selected pavements; and thin overlays for more deteriorated streets.

In addition to these ongoing maintenance needs for the �Good� street segments, a significant backlog remains of streets and alleys that are in �Fair� to �Failed� (OCIs   from 54 to 0).  Of the City�s approximately 54.7 million square feet of street and alley pavement, staff estimates that about 21.8 million square feet (39.8%) are in this �Fair� to �Failed� condition. Using current unit costs, staff estimates it would cost between $90 and $101 million to reconstruct or overlay these streets to achieve �Good� to �Excellent� ratings.  A breakdown of the costs estimated for this work by each type of functional category is provided below. 

Table 4 - Costs to Rehabilitate Streets and Alleys in �Fair� to �Failed� Condition

Of course, it would be unwise to take on the repair of all of these street segments at one time.  A long-range plan for rehabilitation is recommended so that disruptions to traffic and circulation can be effectively managed.  One approach, if available funds could be identified, would be to take a 10-to 20-year systematic approach.  By simple division, a 10-year program would cost about $10 million per year.  A 20-year program would require about a $5 million per year investment, which is around $3.6 million more per year in recurring funding than is currently available.  Adding the $2 million per year estimated for ongoing maintenance, the current funding gap for the City�s street and alley pavement infrastructure is estimated to be about $5.6 million per year. 

RECOMMENDATION

Note and file.

Attachments:

Attachment 1 � December 19, 1969 Policies: Streets, Curbs, Gutters, Sidewalks

Figure 1 � Public Works Department 20-section maintenance grid system

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