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CITY OF VANCOUVER ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT |
Date: |
January 13, 2005 | |
Author: |
Neil Stajduhar | |
Phone No.: |
604.873.7387 | |
RTS No.: |
04820 | |
CC File No.: |
5762 | |
Meeting Date: |
February 3, 2005 |
TO: |
Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets |
FROM: |
General Manager Engineering Services |
SUBJECT: |
Residential Street and Lane Infrastructure Maintenance Program |
RECOMMENDATION
THAT Council receive for INFORMATION the report requesting an increase to the 2005 Streets Operating Budget of $457,000 ($685,000 ongoing) to initiate a Residential Street and Lane Infrastructure Maintenance Program. Approval and funding to be deferred to the 2005 Interim Operating Budget.
CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Engineering Services and the General Manager of Corporate Services RECOMMEND approval of the foregoing.
COUNCIL POLICY
Any change to existing budgets require Council approval.
PURPOSE
The Purpose of this report is to seek City Council approval to initiate a residential street and lane infrastructure maintenance program.
BACKGROUND
The majority of residential streets and lanes in Vancouver have been surfaced and, in the case of streets, curbed through the local improvement program. Approximately 86% of residential streets and 75% of lanes have been paved in this way.
The amount of paving peaked in the late 70s and early 80s as shown schematically in the following graph.
After a street or lane has been paved the initial maintenance required is very low and consists mainly of dealing with emergency situations. As a street ages, maintenance requirements begin to grow starting with crack filling and moving on to patching and overlaying as the original pavement deteriorates (see example pictures below). Without maintenance a street might last on average about 40 years before complete replacement is required. With appropriate maintenance the life can be extended to perhaps 80 years.
CRACKFILL
The following graph shows schematically the series of maintenance treatments required over a streets life and how the life of the pavement can be extended. That is, for a typical residential street a maintenance program would first consist of crack filling the street around the 25th year, then cut-out & patch near the 35th year, crack fill again near the 45th year, and finally a combination of cut-out & patch and chip seal around the 55th year to extend the life cycle of the street upward of 80 years.
The cost of maintaining a pavement is relatively low compared to the cost of replacement. As a result, to minimize the life cycle cost of a pavement and to get the maximum value out of the investment an appropriate amount of maintenance is required. This is analogous to repairing any leaks in the roof of a house as soon as they are detected. If the roof is not repaired then the resulting damage to the house is much more expensive to deal with than simply repairing the roof.
The reconstruction cost of one residential block with asphalt is about $50,000 with a design life of 40 years if no maintenance is performed. The life expectancy can be doubled if a proper maintenance program is implemented at approximately $15,000 or 30 percent of the reconstruction costs at today's value.
The following table is a present value analysis of the life cycle costs of a residential street over eighty years both with and without appropriate maintenance. The table clearly shows it is cost effective to do appropriate maintenance over the life of a pavement. Extending the costs over the entire inventory of residential streets shows a present value savings of nearly $112 million dollars.
In preparation for the upcoming Capital Plan review we have been preparing a long range plan for streets to better understand the maintenance and replacement requirements. Surveys that we have been doing for that long range plan are confirming anecdotal information that the residential streets and lanes are at a stage where a formal maintenance program is necessary.
DISCUSSION
The following graph schematically shows the maintenance effort that would be necessary on our residential street and lane system in the coming years. Because construction of these streets occurred over a relatively short time, the maintenance effort required can be expected to rise sharply rather than being constant.
As indicated in this graph we are at a point on the curve where the maintenance effort should be increasing. This has been verified by our survey which indicates a large backlog of maintenance work.
Unfortunately, over the last 15 years, rather than rising, the streets maintenance budget has been declining as shown in the following graph that has been adjusted for inflation. The maintenance of arterial streets has been reasonably well provided for through Translink funding and by shifts in the streets maintenance budget but this has only reduced the funding available for residential streets and lanes. In fact, at this time, budgets for residential streets and lanes mainly deal with emergency situations. There is no established ongoing infrastructure maintenance program for this component of our infrastructure.
Decline in Maintenance Funding
Streets Operating Budget (adjusted for inflation)
As part of the long range plan we will be analyzing and recommending an appropriate course of maintenance and replacement. However, at this time, we feel that it is prudent to get started on a modest maintenance program to deal with some of the most pressing needs. Therefore, we are recommending an increase to the Streets Operating Budget of $685,000 for now. This funding allocates approximately $100 of maintenance work per residential street block. This is quite small compared to the existing arterial maintenance funding of over $3,000 per block.
This funding would be used for basic crack filling; to patch areas that are too deteriorated for crack filling to be effective; and to overlay badly cracked pavements with a sealing coat. Performance of the repairs will be monitored to further inform our long range planning process.
Sidewalks are another program area we are reviewing as part of the long range plan. This program was addressed recently at council. Sidewalks have different maintenance issues than streets and lanes as they are more likely to be damaged by tree roots. The tree roots cause sidewalk upheaval which may lead to pedestrian trip hazards and other safety concerns. Unlike residential streets and lanes, we have established programs for sidewalk maintenance and replacement. Therefore an increase in sidewalk maintenance is not as critical at this time but will be addressed comprehensively in the long range plan.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The proposed $685,000 increase to the Streets Operating Budget can be funded from the added basic operating funds without offset.
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