Roads are crumbling throughout the metropolitan area and there’s not enough money to fix — or even maintain — them.
“They’re falling to pieces,” said Lee Norris, deputy administrator for the city’s Department of Public Works.
Chattanooga has more than 1,250 miles of roads and spends about $1.5 million a year to repair them, he said. The cost of doing traditional paving — also called mill and overlay — is about $1 million per mile, city officials said.
And there’s no telling how much it would cost to keep the city’s roadways at an acceptable level, Mr. Norris said.
“If I had $5 million a year, it wouldn’t be enough,” he said.
At a city meeting two weeks ago, Mr. Norris argued that $1.1 million in state gas tax money — which is scheduled for road repair but has been going to pay the city’s water quality program instead — desperately is needed for streets.
“We’re not getting any more money to pay for our roads,” he said at the time. “And if you hadn’t noticed lately, our roads are falling apart.”
“This one is, for sure,” said Johnny McCollum, who has lived on Vance Road in Brainerd for 22 years.
Cracks line Vance Road, with open potholes just a few feet apart. On the side of the road, water lies in deep depressions.
Underfunded roadway maintenance has left the city with no option but to use experimental methods in order to stretch the paving budget and to stretch out the city’s supply of asphalt, Mr. Norris said.
No more conventional paving is used on city roads, said Ariel Soriano, engineering manager for engineering, design and construction with Public Works. It is just too costly because it is linked to oil prices, which have shot up in the past several years, he said.
ROAD TECHNIQUESChattanooga uses several paving techniques for area roads to improve and preserve them. The techniques and how the road is repaired include:* Full-depth reclamation: Grinding the road and putting on asphalt and concrete* Roller-compacted concrete: Putting on a quick-drying concrete mix* Mill and overlay: Grinding the road and putting on asphalt* Crack sealing: Filling cracks in the road* Slurry seal: Putting a mixture of asphalt and filler to seal cracks* Scrub seal: Using a layer of liquid asphalt and sand to fill cracks* Chip seal: Combining liquid asphalt and rock to pave the roadway* Ultrathin asphalt overlay: Putting down a thin coat of asphalt over the road* Rejuvenators: Spraying a special chemical to preserve the roadSource: Department of Public WorksBY THE NUMBERS* $1.5 million: Approximate amount of money given to road repair each year out of the general fund* $1.1 million: Amount of money given to water quality each year from the state gas tax fund* 1,250: Approximate mileage of roads within the citySource: Chattanooga
“We’re not doing any conventional construction,” he said. “That’s gone.”
To save money two years ago, city engineers tried using an old paving method called chip sealing in which asphalt and rock are combined to pave roads. City officials said it could stretch their dollars and get more paving done.
But the result was public backlash when gravel from the roads came off the pavement and struck cars. Drivers also said the roads became door-rattling bumpy within a few weeks.
The roads that were paved by chip sealing were repaved last summer with a new method called ultrathin asphalt overlay, he said. It is more costly than chip seal, but almost five times cheaper than paying for mill and overlay, city officials said.
NO MONEY FOR ROADS
Mr. Norris said the city has applied for $1.5 million in road repairs from federal stimulus money. The city has not received any of that money and does not know if it will, he said. The city does not maintain interstates or state highways, which are repaired by the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
Julie Oaks, TDOT spokeswoman, said the federal government has talked about a jobs bill that could include as much as $500 million for transportation. If that happens, it will be up to what is written in the bill on how much would go to the Chattanooga Metropolitan Planning Organization, the group that is responsible for divvying out federal transportation money and if any of that money goes toward city roads, she said.
City Councilman Manny Rico, chairman of the council’s Public Works Committee, said that, aside from reclaiming the state gas tax money from water quality, there is no other place to turn for road-repair funds except raising taxes. But there’s no taste for that on the council, he said.
“We need to fix a lot of infrastructure, but we don’t have the money,” he said.
A large problem in the last few years has been Mother Nature, Mr. Norris said. For about three years, the Chattanooga area was in a drought, but over the last several months, there has been a tremendous amount of rain, he said. That has led to many roads cracking, potholes forming and hillsides sliding onto the roads, he said.
City engineers said most of their work is preventive maintenance and that, over the last few years, only one new road has been built — the Northpoint Boulevard expansion.
Igou Gap and Hamill roads are waiting on money for complete reconstruction, and the city would like to build a new road from Goodwin Road to Jenkins Road, paralleling Shallowford Road, Mr. Norris said. The total cost of these projects is more than $12 million, city records show.
That money would come from the city’s capital improvements budget.
No money was allocated this year for those or any road projects, records show.
Mayor Ron Littlefield said he agreed roads across the city are in bad repair, but there have always been problems with roads and always will be.
“You’re always working against nature,” he said.
The best steps the city can do now is to institute a scientific road pavement program that would categorize when and where roads need redone, he said. That kind of system is under way within the city, he said.
LIVING NEAR A PROBLEM
Tangelia Woodruff, president of the Wheeler Avenue Neighborhood Watch, said her street has not been paved since 1963. She came before the City Council two weeks ago and told members there was a problem.
Part of her road “balloons up” and her home sits midway along the road, so she has to bounce and dodge her way along whenever she drives it, she said.
“They keep saying, ‘It’s on the books,'” she said. “They just patch it up and patch it up.”
Mr. McCollum said he has complained and complained about Vance Road to city officials.
About 10 years ago, city crews came through the neighborhood and repaved it.
“It ain’t been that long ago since they paved it,” he said.
Edward Winn, who lives on Vance Road, said the road “needs to be redone.” He said a year ago he tried getting a petition together to get the road fixed as well as getting speed humps placed on it because the city street is packed with traffic, too.
“It’s bad,” he said, pointing toward the street. “You can see the potholes.”