5.5. SR 03-24-2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

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C. Locally Funded City Streets - Cities over 5,000 As detailed above, there are 130 MSA eligible cities (those with a population of over 5,000) in Minnesota. Within these cities, 80% of the total roadway mileage, or about 10,750 miles, is classified as "municipal streets" in Mn/DOT terminology. Cities do not receive any state MSA for the construction and maintenance of these streets, so they are funded through locally generated funding sources, mostly property tax revenues. Findings #C-l: Most large cities are not spending enough on roadway capital improvements to maintain a 50 year life cycle One of the principal goals of the 2002 City Road and Bridge Funding Survey was to assess the spending trends of Minnesota cities relative to the projected spending that would be required to sustain a life cycle of 50 years. In this report, we borrow from the methodology applied by Greg Isakson, the Goodhue County Engineer, who has established this analytical method for determining the life cycle needs of Minnesota's system of county roads. The survey returned data on 32 cities with a population over 5,0000 on the question of each city's spending level for the three principal roadway construction/maintenance activities discussed in this report: construction/reconstruction (which implies initial grading or regrading the roadway surface) which occurs once in a 50 year life cycle; overlaying the pre-existing surface (which we assume to occur twice in a 50 year life cycle) and sealcoating the surface (which we assume to occur six times over the 50 year life cycle). The figure at right presents a "typical" life cycle construction and maintenance activity schedule that would allow a paved roadway to last for 50 years. Figure 31 "Typical" 50 Year Life Cycle Roadway Construction and Maintenance Activity Schedule Activity Interval Year Construction 1 Sealcoat 2 3 Sealcoat 7 10 Overlay 7 17 Sealcoat 2 19 Sealcoat 7 26 Overlay 7 33 Sealcoat 2 35 Sealcoat 7 42 Regrade 7 49 To identify projected costs, the methodology applied in this analysis requires that a typical cost per mile be estimated for the three activities that comprise the construction and maintenance schedule. In this analysis, it is estimated that the per-mile cost of regrading is $200,000 per mile, the cost of an overlay is $40,000 per mile, and the cost of a sealcoat is $5,000 per mile. (These values are consistent with the cost estimates used in the county needs study and are on par with all of the cities who reported activity costs.) Figure 32 shows the percentage and raw numbers from the surveyed cities who either met, or didn't meet the 50-year life cycle spending requirements for each of the three primary construction and maintenance activities. The data from the survey indicates that few cities under 5,000 in population are 100% 90% 80% 7O% 6O% 5O% 4O% 3O% 2O% 10% O% Figure 32 Percentage of Large Cities Meeting 50.Year Life Cycle Spending Levels: Avg Spending 1997-2001 (32 Cities Surveyed) [~ Cities Not Meeting 50-Year Life Cycle Spending Requirements Ll~l Cities Meeting 50-Year Life Cycle Spending Requirements Construction/Reconstruction Oveday Sealcoat 33