Street resurfacing moves up Albany city officials’ priority list

ALBANY — With Assistant City Manager Phil Roberson, whose 41 years with the city’s Public Works department qualify him as an expert on the topic, noting “potholes in the city are as bad as I’ve ever seen them,” Albany officials — in particular City Manager Sharon Subadan — have redoubled their efforts to address a concern that had created a growing public outcry.

And while funding concerns and uncooperative weather conspired to push resurfacing work on the city’s 550 miles of asphalt streets ever deeper toward the backburner, Reeves Construction Co. finally got the green light in late March to start work on a $1.9 million resurfacing contract the company has with the city, a process that will see some 36 streets receive needed upgrades.

“Public works has criteria that they use to evaluate the needs of our street repairs,” Subadan said Friday while on her way back from an Electric Cities of Georgia meeting on the Atlantic Coast. “We look at the funding we have available and determine how many streets we will be able to resurface.

“And while we did hear the outcry from the public, truthfully, we are starting this project by simply following the way the process works. Since we had a contract in place, we were disappointed that (the resurfacing) didn’t start sooner, but with funding coming from different sources you sometimes have to wait for the money to accumulate before you can get started. It may appear to some that we are being reactive, but really we’re just moving the process along as planned.”

A recent report prepared by Roberson and the city’s Engineering department showed that more than a third of Albany’s streets fall into “poor” or “very poor” levels, based on their current conditions. The report indicated asphalt tonnage for streets in those two categories are 129,852 and 131,506, respectively. That equates to 99 miles of streets in the very poor category and 101 miles in the poor.

“This volume, for just two of the street categories, is a clear indication of the challenge the city faces as we attempt to improve the quality of roadway surfaces,” the report noted.

But Roberson said he, Subadan, Engineering Director Bruce Maples and other city officials had devised a plan to address the condition of city streets, a plan that would eventually allow officials to contend with those needs regularly on a prescribed 15- to 20-year rotation.

“Our LMIG (Local Maintenenace and Improvement Grant, which comes from the state Department of Transportation) funding has always been something of a stop-gap measure,” Roberson said. “The project that is under way now is being funded by two years of LMIG allocations totalling $1.3 million and our required 30 percent match of $600,000, which came from SPLOST funding.

“If SPLOST VII (which will go before city/county voters as a referendum during the Nov. 8 general election) passes, we are looking at allocating enough funding that, with what GDOT is saying will be an increase in LMIG funds, we hope will get us back onto that 20-year rotation that is required for proper maintenance of our streets.”

Roberson said abundant rains in recent years have added to street woes in the city.

“When you have normal and above-normal rainfall like we’ve had in our region the last few years, and then you have periods of extremely cold weather as well, it exacerbates the problem,” the assistant city manager said. “Then, when you throw in the fact that a lot of the complaints are coming from high traffic volume areas, you can see why we’re having so many problems.”

The city’s current resurfacing plan shows dates established for resurfacing of 17 streets, including Pointe North Boulevard, Devon Drive, Castle Pines Lane, Rosebriar Avenue, Pearce Avenue, Franklin Drive, Monarch Drive, Keystone Avenue, Archwood Drive, South Carroll and South Maple streets, East Residence Avenue, East Tift Avenue, and Village, Wheeler, Adkins and Hobson streets. Many of those thoroughfares have already been paved.

Several business owners along those streets say they’re pleased with the results.

“The resurfacing was really needed, it was a very bumpy ride before,” Jennifer Magaddino, part of the family management team at Picnic Pizza on Archwood Drive, said Friday. “What the city has done is a huge improvement.

“We were very pleased that when the crews got here to do the work, they did it quickly and they made it easy for our customers to get in and out. There was no real disruption of our business.”

The contract with Reeves also includes resurfacing work on Sunny Lane, McArthur Street, Gadsden Drive, Mercer Avenue, Van Buren Street, Harding Street, Eager Drive, Greenwood Drive, Edgewood Lane, Hoover Street, Gail Avenue, Sharon Drive, Elkhorn Lane, Elton Street, Kenilworth Road, Ridgewood Lane, Raybun Court and Church Street.

“Our goal, if SPLOST passes, remains to focus on infrastructure,” Subadan said. “But you have to remember that infrastructure encompasses below the surface, the surface level and above the surface. And one of the unfortunate truths we must work with is that there will always be a much greater need than there is money.”