The importance of the
Road Surface Management System
IN THE CITY
by Gerry James
Who decides which streets and roads get repaired or repaved and how is that decision made?
The short answer is the public works director presents a list of proposed maintenance to the city manager and City Council. The final decision is theirs based on the director’s recommendations and available funding.
How is the proposed maintenance list developed? We us RSMS, or Road Surface Management System, developed by the Maine Local Roads Center/Technical Services. This system is based on research done by the Federal Highway Administration, various state departments of transportation across the country and research done at several universities.
From that research it has been determined that each highway surface defect has one or more causes and what needs to be done to correct the causes of those defects and what repairs are needed to correct those defects.
A computer software program has been developed to analyze the defects and causes and to recommend repair strategies.
Before anything can be done, a road inventory has to be completed. We need to know the length, width, surface type, shoulder type, drainage, etc., of each street and road. Some roads will be divided to allow for changes in the surface condition of each section. Once the inventory is complete and verified as accurate, a condition survey must be done for each road or road segment. As you can see, implementing this RSMS has been very time consuming. We have 200 road segments on inventory.
Currently there are three people at the Public Works Department that have attended RSMS training classes. When we have finished the condition surveys, all information is entered into the computer for analysis. When the analysis is complete, we get a prioritized summary of projected repairs based on a duration/cost ratio or “Which repair strategy will last the longest for the least amount of money?” From this summary listing we pick several of the top projects and estimate the costs as close as possible, then present it to the City Council for consideration.
The list is not cast in stone, it must be flexible enough to accommodate other construction projects and to allow us to adjust for unforeseen circumstances such as flooding or excessive damage during spring breakup, and changing traffic patterns.
RSMS is a very important tool that enables us to more efficiently assess our needs and manage our money. Forty to 50 percent of our money is spent on the road surfaces, so we must be able to manage them efficiently.
The system also works on the fact that maintenance is cheaper than reconstruction. Following this premise means that we must use maintenance dollars for just that and fund reconstruction projects from other sources such as grants and state projects and city capital appropriations. We have done all three several times. We currently have the Edgemont Drive reconstruction project for 2010. This project is funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Reservation Roads Program, in conjunction with the Aroostook Band of Micmacs and the city of Presque Isle.
The city of Presque Isle has a significant investment in its street, road and drainage infrastructure. In 1997 the City Council backed the Road Surface Management System with an additional $100,000 per year for maintenance. The goal was to stop the decline in the condition of our streets and roads. We have done that and will strive to improve our roadways over the next decade using the Road Surface Management System.
Gerry James is public works director for the city of Presque Isle. He can be reached at 764-2560 or via e-mail at gerryjames@mfx.net.
