Road Repair, The Saga

A reader asks what happened to the Schoor De Palma study on road repair needs.

Plaintalker's post in 2005 tells the beginning of the saga.

Since then, the city did away with an in-house engineer, slowed down the schedule, ordered a review of road conditions and, according to what I heard at the Planning Board Thursday night, got off track with bonding. At this point, department and division heads are all being educated on the capital improvement and bonding process, which include many sequential steps. The cabinet has seen many turnovers, and even changes in the City Council makeup have brought differing viewpoints on how to proceed with road repairs.

As the former city engineer cautioned, this process has to move smoothly in order to take advantage of the prime road repair season, and that has not happened. The initial assessment of the roads in the worst shape has been altered both by clamor from constituents and actual changes in road conditions. The outside engineers, Remington & Vernick, have to wait on direction from the administration and governing body on what to do, and clashing views have stalled progress. Meanwhile, the cost per mile has only increased, so the early projections on funding are no longer valid.

Not all road repairs have to be done with bonding. There are state and federal grants available, but a municipality must apply and the grants have to be monitored.

Consider the current state of affairs: A new city administrator since the end of November, a new Public Works director since late September, no permanent chief financial officer and a Planning Division stretched super-thin by layoffs in recent years. Officials are presently trying their best to get a grip on road repairs. Wish them luck. After all, West Eighth Street's "moonscape" got fixed. Maybe it can still happen all over the city.

--Bernice