The Brookhaven City Council approved April 12 a $4.7 million contract to C.W. Matthews for road paving, the most in the city’s four-year history. Paving of more than 10 miles this year is expected to begin in June.
“Maintaining our road infrastructure, after many years of neglect, is a crucial factor for the long-term success of Brookhaven, said City Manager Christian Sigman in a press release. “It’s a quality of life issue for our residents, it’s a public safety issue for first responders and it’s an economic development issue for our business community.”
Since Brookhaven’s founding in 2012, 18.8 percent of the city’s 120 miles of roads have been repaved. With an additional 10.7 miles of resurfacing, rehabilitation or reconstruction planned in 2017, nearly 28 percent of Brookhaven’s city roads will be less than 4 years old.
“Road paving is one of the bedrock services of local government. It’s very satisfying to get into high gear in addressing the backlog that’s on the books,” said Mayor John Ernst in the press release. “Until now, it’s been mostly light resurfacing. This contract allows us to delve deeper into more comprehensive road rehabilitations and road reconstructions.”
Brookhaven uses a Pavement Condition Index (PCI) to determine the quality of the asphalt of the road on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 representing the best condition possible. This approach uses a scientific criteria for prioritizing road repairs and improvements.
Brookhaven’s Public Works Director Hari Karikaran explains that the overall quality of Brookhaven’s roads has been improving.
“In 2013, the average PCI of all roads was a 60, which is considered in the fair range. By 2016 the PCI improved to a 64, which is only one point away from the good range,” said Karikaran in the release.
“Of course, we want to move that average into the very good and excellent ranges across the board. As it stands now, we are only dealing with the worst roads. After we clear this list, we’ll have a new list of critical roads to address,” he said.
The approval of the $4.7 million contract to C.W. Matthews means paving work should begin in June, shortly after the end of the school year to minimize traffic impact. Weather permitting, paving on all 59 streets should be substantially complete in September, with final repairs and punch list items complete by November.
C.W. Matthews is the same company doing the repair for the I-85 interstate overpass collapse.
As paving work continues throughout the summer, the city of Brookhaven is committed to keeping residents and stakeholders informed of progress. Brookhaven will distribute notices to residents in areas that will be directly affected by the road construction work two weeks in advance of construction activities. Road work on specific streets will also be identified on Brookhaven’s Twitter and Facebook pages, as well as the Brookhaven website at www.BrookhavenGa.gov.
The 59 streets that were selected for resurfacings, rehabilitations and reconstructions using the Pavement Condition Index, are as follows:
