City’s on the path to better roadways
Mayor A C Wharton’s proposal to significantly increase funding for road resurfacing in the annual budget was approved by the City Council earlier this week, launching a $15 million plan to repave the city’s streets.
Of the $15 million — up from the original $9.5 million — budgeted for repaving, $9 million will be allocated toward city-approved contractual vendors, and the remaining $6 million will be done by city crews.
Arlenia Cole of the city of Memphis Public Works Division said the city owns its own asphalt plant, which makes the repaving process easier.
She said the city will be repaving 115 lane miles of
the city’s 6,700 lane miles. A lane mile is 12 feet wide and one mile long.
“The city has a five-year maintenance resurfacing management plan … and we maintain an audit through an engineering analysis that determines which streets are scheduled to be repaved,” Cole said.
She added that the streets selected for resurfacing are spread fairly evenly throughout the city’s seven districts, and they go through an inspection process to determine which will be resurfaced.
The inspection is made by ranking the conditions of the streets on a 1-10 scale, with a one needing significant reconstruction and a 10 being in excellent condition. Cole said that one factor that was common in determining the condition this time around was the presence of potholes. In a recent inspection, there were more than 20,000 throughout the city, she said.
The city’s goal is to have streets repaved on an average of 25 years, though it is currently under a 29-year cycle.
Cole said that the city considers feedback from citizens of Memphis when selecting streets as well.
Bikeway/Pedestrian Program Manager Kyle Wagenschutz said that every time roads are repaved, the Division of Engineering looks for opportunities to add bike paths to them, and they appreciate feedback as well because it “provides us a good idea of where new facilities should go.”
Aside from listening to residents, the division follows the Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan as a guide to help determine whether a bike lane would be feasible. There are certain conditions that wouldn’t warrant it, such as a narrow road, as the repaving wouldn’t expand anything.
Wagenschutz said the division will hold several public meetings to discuss the possibility of bike paths on certain streets. As of now, he has had meetings dedicated to Sanderlin Avenue and Kirby Road; however, he is unsure when the next meeting will take place. Anyone interested in attending a meeting can view a calendar on bikepedmemphis. wordpress.com.
Workers are already out resurfacing roads, particularly those around Frayser and New Allen Road.