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_ .................. Public Works Administration City of Eugene 858 Pearl Street MEMORANDUM Eugene, Oregon 97401 (541)682-5241 (541) 682-6826 FAX www.ci.eugene.or.us Date: March 26, 2008 To: Mayor Piercy and City Council From: Kurt Corey, Public Works Director Subject: Potholes and Unimproved Streets Given the flurry of e-mails and other correspondence this week, I thought it might be helpful to provide some information clarifying the relationship between the current backlog of deferred street maintenance and the status of the various unimproved street sections throughout the city. There have also been some questions as to our maintenance priorities, the process for upgrading unimproved streets, the city's current assessment policies, and similar issues. In order to provide consistent information with which to answer these questions, we have prepared the attached handout relating to Eugene's Unimproved Streets. As indicated in the handout, there are about 538 total centerline miles of streets within the City of Eugene including more than 460 miles that have previously been improved. The improved street network has a deferred maintenance backlog of more than $170 million. We are using 100% of the proceeds from the 5- cent local gas tax (about $3.5 million per year) to address the backlog. Last year the Council Subcommittee on Transportation concluded it would take nearly $27 million per year to completely eliminate the backlog over the next ten years or about $18 million annually to make considerable progress over the same period. In accordance with Council direction, a bond measure is being prepared for the November election to provide additional funding for the backlog and other revenue sources are also under consideration. We are also facing an annual deficit of about $2 million for operations and maintenance activities including signing, striping, pothole repairs, street lighting, traffic signal maintenance, and all other related work. Several work sessions have been conducted over the past years on this topic and a number of potential solutions are under consideration to deal with the O& M shortfall. The deferred maintenance backlog is one problem, the O&M shortfall is another, and the inventory of unimproved streets is yet another. Our most recent analysis indicates there are about 63 miles of unimproved local streets (there are also about 12 additional miles of unimproved arterial and collector streets). The estimated cost to property owners to bring the unimproved local streets up to a maintainable standard is about $50 million - these costs include curb & gutter, pavement, driveways, and sidewalks. The City also bears a portion of local street improvement costs including storm drainage improvements, intersection costs, corner lot assistance, individual lot frontage costs in excess of 100 feet, and other related costs that historically have amounted to about equivalent to the property owner assessments. Thus, the City would need to identify around $40-50 million as its share of the complete upgrading of existing unimproved local streets. The average estimated assessment for a 50' residential lot given current construction costs would be around $9000. The assessment can, of course, vary depending upon the nature of the project such as Page 1 of 3