Consider recommending City Council approving plans and specifications and authorizing advertisement for bids for 2024 Crack Seal Improvements, Improvement Project #24-08

Purpose:
The purpose of this case is to consider recommending City Council approving plans and specifications and authorizing advertisement for bids for 2024 Crack Seal Improvements, Improvement Project #24-08.
 
Background:
Crack seal improvements are completed annually on between 10 and 23 miles of public street segments to cost-effectively maximize the life of the bituminous pavement.
 
Crack sealing protects pavement by preventing stormwater runoff from seeping through cracks in the pavement and joints between the pavement and concrete curb and gutter, and utility castings. Reducing future pavement damage due to wet subgrade soils, especially during freeze-thaw cycles.
 
The City’s current pavement maintenance schedule calls for public streets to be crack sealed in the third, seventh, and fourteenth year following construction, reconstruction, and overlay improvements. However, while this is the typical maintenance schedule, it is important to note that Staff reviews the condition of all streets annually and adjusts the schedule of maintenance operations based on actual pavement conditions.
 
A total of 13.70 miles of public street segments are proposed to receive crack seal improvements in 2024. These street segments were selected based on age, pavement maintenance history, and Pavement and Surface Evaluation Rating (PASER) values. Selected streets generally have PASER values between 7 and 10.
 
Plans and specifications for the 2024 Crack Sealing Improvements were prepared in-house as part of Staff’s normal duties. A copy of the plans is attached to this case.
 
Preliminary Schedule Remaining

• Council approves plans and specifications, authorizes advertisement for bids
  • January 23, 2024
• Bids are publicly opened
  • Week of March 18, 2024
• Council awards contract to the lowest responsible bidder
  • March 26, 2024
• Contractor begins improvements
  • Late April / early May 2024
• Contractor completes improvements
  • May 31, 2024

 
Pavement Rejuvenation Update
On January 9, 2024, City Council ordered plans for the 2024 Pavement Rejuvenation Improvements, Improvement Project #24-09. Based on initial review, Staff estimated 16.08 miles of public streets will be included in the 2024 project. Based on a general cost per mile estimate from previous projects, Staff estimates the total project costs to be $402,000. Staff has had preliminary discussions with the contractor, Correction Asphalt Material (CAM), and prices are anticipated to increase approximately 3-percent per square yard from 2023. Staff will work with CAM over the winter to finalize a proposal. We also have started preliminary discussions about when we would prefer the project to occur, which is mid to late summer.
 
Project Coordination
Outside of pothole patching, major street maintenance in 2024 includes crack sealing, pavement rejuvenation, and pavement striping. Pavement striping generally occurs on MSA streets. However, it should be noted that work on the striping project has not yet been started. Staff is aware of several street segments proposed to be within both the crack seal and pavement rejuvenation project, similar to 2023. Because of this Staff is proposing to schedule pavement maintenance projects accordingly:
 
May                 Crack Seal
June / July       Pavement Striping
July / August   Pavement Rejuvenation
 
As we continue with the annual pavement maintenance, the ultimate goal is to not require street segments to have overlapping projects on the same year, but to catch up with pavement rejuvenating and pavement striping, this cannot be avoided in 2024.

Notification is not required for this case.

Timeframe:
Staff estimates up to 10 minutes will be needed to present this case and respond to questions.

Observations:
Approximately 40-percent of the proposed project area is composed of Municipal State Aid (MSA) street segments. If actual bid prices are more than estimated costs, MSA maintenance funds may be used on up to 40-percent of the costs.
 
Alternatives:
Alternative #1 – Motion recommending City Council approving plans and specifications and authorizing advertisement for bids for 2024 Crack Seal Improvements, Improvement Project #24-08.
 
Alternative #2 – Motion of other.
 

Estimated project costs for the proposed 2024 Crack Seal Improvements total $165,000 This includes 5% indirect costs for administrative, engineering, legal and financing.
 
The City budgeted $575,000 for crack seal and pavement rejuvenation improvements in 2024.
 
City Staff proposed to administer and inspect construction in-house, as part of their normal duties.

Staff recommends Alternative #1.

Action:
Motion recommending City Council approving plans and specifications and authorizing advertisement for bids for 2024 Crack Seal Improvements, Improvement Project #24-08.