DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - The Decatur City Council will consider a proposed street list for the 2019 Local Motor Fuel Tax Street Improvement Project at their meeting.
The Public Works Department will prepare a detailed 5-year street plan as part of the annual budget process in the future so officials can plan for and prioritize street improvement projects and funding during budget deliberations. This proposal is part of the 2016 fuel tax project to fix the city's crumbling roadways.
The proposed 2019 street list includes recommended street sections, and alternate street sections. Alternate street sections are ones that do not score quite as high, but some of these could be improved if bids come in below the engineer’s estimate.
In 2019 they hope the program will include the purchase of equipment to let the Public Works Department make maintenance repairs that bond with existing street surfaces more effectively and last longer than existing street patching methods.
The City Public Works staff inspects half of the city’s streets each year.
These inspections assign a rating number to each block of every city maintained street. The rating number is based on the various pavement distress features present on each street. This information is maintained in a database using software specifically designed to inspect and manage street conditions.
About 41 percent of the city’s streets are listed as fair, poor, very poor, or failing condition.
The City Council has directed that Local Motor Fuel Tax funds be used on residential streets using a “worst first” improvement approach. Public Works staff uses the street database program to help identify those streets that are worst in the city. The fuel tax began in 2016 and is part of a 10 year tax increase.
To learn more about the project, click here.
