BUSINESS RESOURCES

conditions on Yuma roadways by Infrastructure Management Services revealed the City would need to maintain 23 miles of roadway a year just to keep existing pavement alive. In the prior decade, budgeting issues and state reductions in shared funds used for roadways had caused a backlog in streets needing work.

In spring 2020, the City was only budgeted to apply sealant to 10 miles of roadways for each spring and fall project. Since then, the City has been sealing between 22 and 28 miles of streets twice a year. Additionally, the City began employing a thicker, more robust mixture of slurry sealant.

“The material is staying intact and we know this because we core each street that’s two years old to verify,” said Public Works Manager Michael Flowers.

The thicker sealant has increased the time before the same roadway requires its next round of work, reducing the long-run costs on maintenance. Public Works has noticed steady improvement of its pavement condition index (PCI), where each street’s surface is graded on a zero-to-100 scale, with 100 being perfect. The City’s goal is to hold scores at an average of 60 and above to reduce maintenance requirements and keep surfaces pleasant on which to drive.

“Our PCI improves about one to two points each season,” Flowers said. “Currently, we are at a 62.78 for PCI rating for our streets; our study read a PCI of 55. Based on our 2018 road study, we were to have 122 miles of failed roads by now and instead we only have 45. The increase in budget funds and pounds is preventing the roads from deteriorating and holding them for up to five to eight years depending on traffic for that road.”