On March 16, 2021, the Ashland City Council adopted a Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for
the City of Ashland Engineering Division. This CIP is a living and evolving document that is built upon a foundation of master planning. It requires biennial updates based on updated master plans, changes in need or prioritization, changes in funding mechanisms and changes to goals or policy direction. The Council subsequently
authorized design engineering contracts for the two major roadway projects in the current biennium. The two comprehensive rehabilitation projects currently under design are for Ashland Street and North Mountain Avenue.
The City of Ashland Streets Division oversees general maintenance of the street system, which includes performing residential roadway overlays and roadway preparation for the biennial slurry seal project. These activities are part of the City’s pavement maintenance strategy.
This CIP is a 20-year program for years 2021 through 2040 and details roadway rehabilitation projects associated with pavement maintenance programs for the two (2), six (6) and 20-year timeframes. Funding for the Ashland Streets Division comes from a variety of sources such as franchise fees, State Gasoline Tax, Food & Beverage Tax, grants and the street utility fee. In Fiscal Year 2023, the Food & Beverage Tax will not be allocated to the Streets Fund. To close this gap, monies from various franchise fees will go into this account. The franchise fees and a portion of the ending funding balance will adequately cover the Streets Fund Budget in 2023.
The lifecycle of a street is typically 20 years; however, if a street is not maintained over the lifecycle, the street will begin to deteriorate quickly in the last five (5) years of the cycle. Therefore, maintenance treatments are vital and include, crack seal, base repair, slurry seal or overlay. Without these treatments the streets would fall into a reconstruct category. Given this lifecycle, the most cost-effective pavement management strategy is to overlay an arterial or collector street at year 15, which then gives the street section a new 20-year lifecycle. Neighborhood collectors and residential street lifecycles are often extended to 25 years with routine maintenance, which includes the application of slurry seals. (See image below.)