$6.7 million set aside to rehabilitate bad roads
By Darleen Principe darleen@theacorn.com

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers ROUGH ROAD- A view of Laguna Road in Simi Valley, one of many streets within city limits in dire need of a face-lift.

At least four major street segments and three residential areas in Simi Valley will be rehabilitated during fiscal year 2007-08 as part of a $7.9-million capital improvement project recently budgeted by the city.

Targeted are parts of Sinaloa Road, Royal Avenue, Madera Road and Yosemite Avenue. Residential areas near Sycamore Drive at Alamo Street, Sequoia Avenue at Los Angeles Avenue, and Erringer Road at Los Angeles Avenue are also on the list for improvement.

Assistant Director of Public Works Ron Fuchiwaki said the streets will probably be repaired next spring or summer. Based on a ranking system used by city engineers, he said, those streets determined to be in poorest condition were chosen for the project.

"We rank them based on their needs for repair and rehabilitation," said Kamran Panah, principal engineer of capital projects. "If there are a lot of cracks, it means the street needs to be rehabilitated as soon as possible."

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers NOT SO EASY TO FIX- The cost of road improvements is rising.

The budget for the streets and roads program, which funds annual major and minor street rehabilitation and other roadrelated improvements, has dropped from last fiscal year's $12 million.

However, the city will spend a total of $6.7 million of the 2007-08 budget on road improvements alone, more than double last year's $3.3 million.

Fuchiwaki said the budgeted amount is about average but is dependent on what kinds of projects need to be done. A street's complete reconstruction would generally cost more than a road overlay.

He said the higher expenditures might also be attributed to rising costs.

"We've encountered higher construction costs in the last three to four years," Fuchiwaki said. "We may have seen a leveling out of those costs in our most recent contracts and we're keeping our fingers crossed that those costs stay level."

Sources of funding

According to the preliminary base budget, the roads program will be funded by a combination of sources.

A total of $1.1 million is being carried over from last year's budget, while $786,000 will come from the general fund and $587,500 from community development block grants. A total of $1.7 million will come from county, state and federal funding.

The primary contributor is the Community Development Agency, with $2.4 million.

The remainder will come from other fees and smaller district funds such as sanitation, lighting maintenance and waterworks.

Future targets

Street segments in Simi scheduled for rehabilitation over the next several years include other portions of Los Angeles Avenue, Royal Avenue, Alamo Street, Erringer Road and Cochran Street, according to a preliminary fiveyear capital improvement program.

Plans are tentative; the streets are reevaluated every year or two, Panah said.

Generally, streets are first rated visually. Those that look the worst undergo further testing.

Often, a "nondestructive deflection test" is used to determine the behavior of the pavement, fatigue and the possibility of base failure, Panah said.

Other factors considered in evaluating roads are the average amount of traffic, the age of the street and the type of cracks observed. The average lifetime of a road after an overlay on a major street is 10 to 12 years, Fuchiwaki said.

The remaining $1.2 million of the 2007-08 budget will be spent on a combination of bicycle and pedestrian facilities, landscaping and storm drain improvements, and various traffic signal projects.

Nearly half of the funds remaining will be spent on implementing recommendations in the recent traffic signal synchronization master plan.