City Streets: Investing in a Neglected Asset

New Search

CITY OF LA GRANDE La Grande Street Fund Revenue FY 05-06 Locally-Raised Revenue ~J State Highway Fund Revenue The city of La Grande hopes to conduct a downtown revitalization project. Currently, the city does not have the funding needed to complete a downtown project, as well as assume responsibility of Adams Avenue (Highway 30). Limited transportation funding has inhibited La Grande's ability to complete this economic development project. The city has developed some local street revenues. Since 1986, La Grande has implemented a street utility fee, which raises about $200,000 per year. This money is used to match state grants, which means the city's share of the state highway fund is the major revenue source for regular and preventive street maintenance. Although La Grande has created some local revenues, the unmet funding need keeps growing as the condition of city streets decline. With only 31 percent of its streets in fair to good condition, La Grande is faced with many coh~SleAll these chafe ges m y beg ptediment to the growth of infrastructure, and increasing c the community. La Grande's Critical Street Project List: 1. C Avenue - 4'h St. toeedsto beoreclolnstructed weth asphaltWbaseorockavd curbs.ilure and deteriorating surface. N Estimated Cost: $518 000. 2. 20'h Street -Ada and base faGureel Needs to be recon A u ted twith asphalt hbase ~ock, patches on patches, curbs and sidewalks. Estimated Cost: $1,485,000. 3. 16th Street • Won 'atgchesAand baseefaelureL Needs toltbe re onsltructed twthtasphalt, potholes, patches p base rock, curbs and sidewalk. Estimated Cost: $1,107.000. 4. Spruce Street - Monro se failure? NeedsCo betreconstruclted withrasph It antl base patches on patches, and ba rock. Estimated Cost: $1,366,400. 5. N Avenue - Washand base failureANeeds to beneconstructed with asphalt andpbaseles, patches on patches, rock. Estimated Cost: $1,701,600. City Streets: Case Studies -Page 32 CITY OF LINCOLN CITY In Lincoln City, 70 percent of the existing streets need to be reconstructed. Most streets were built without adeguate geologic study and on unsuitable or poorly draining soils. LINCOLN CITY QUICK FACTS • 2006 Population: 7,615 (a increase of 14 percent in 10 years) • Funding Need: An additional $400,000 is needed annually to maintain Lincoln City's 196 lane miles. A total cost of over $21 million is needed to bring all streets up to "good" condition. • Highway 101 is the economic corridor through Lincoln City. • Local Economy: Tourism -Chinook Winds Casino. Commercial - Tanger Outlet Mall. Most of the streets in Lincoln City were built between the 1940s and 60s. These streets are now showing their age, which is creating a serious challenge to afast-growing, tourism-based city on the Oregon Coast. Without additional funding, Lincoln City cannot adequately maintain and repair its street system. Part of the growth in Lincoln City has been the development of vacation rental homes, which increase the strain on the city's transportation infrastructure without the economic return of business development. The other growth factor has been annexation. In 2004, the city annexed the remaining property along the west side of Devil's Lake but has been unable to fund the necessary improvements to bring those existing streets up to city standards. There is much work to be done on the city's older streets, as well. Eighty percent of city streets lack a storm drainage system, which is important to the preservation of the pavement. Seventy percent of city streets now need to be reconstructed. As the list of needed projects increases, the amount of street funding available to the city has not kept pace. Lincoln City's primary funding sources for street maintenance are the state highway fund and a transient room tax, neither of which have increased with inflation. .City Streets: Case Studies -Page 33