The Citizen Streets Committee is still a few weeks away from presenting a final report to the Town Council, but at the annual council retreat Feb. 28, it was reported that work to upgrade pavement on local streets may begin soon.

The Town has $10 million immediately available for the work and it was reported this will be used for two initial projects, with one planned to begin by the end of the fiscal year, June 30. The initial $5 million project is slated to rebuild Sterling Way, Ibsen and Sherwood drives and a portion of Ashbrook Drive. Also, Panorama, Kiwanis, Enterprise and Colony drives, as well as Jacklin and Firebrick drives. This is a complete rebuild of approximately four miles of pre-incorporation roads.

Information on the second half of this initial work was not announced.

Mark Graham was spokesman for the committee that was formed in 2021 to evaluate and consider a long-term plan to prioritize and fund major street improvements in Fountain Hills. The Town hired an asphalt consultant, RAS, who Graham described as “road scientists” to conduct a community-wide assessment of street pavement. The company completed its assessment of 161 centerline miles of pavement and provided the results to the committee.

“The survey is complete,” Graham said. “We are crunching the numbers to see the costs. We will have it done in four to six weeks.”

The assessment covered all classes of Town streets, arterials, collectors, local and alleys.

“The primary goal of the assessment is to provide pavement management services, which will assist the Town in maintaining its pavement network at an acceptable level of service in the most cost-effective manner,” according to the report Graham provided.

Graham explained they divided the streets into two categories, “pre-incorporation” roads and “post-incorporation” roadways.

Those constructed prior to incorporation (1989) pavement sections did not meet current subdivision roadway standards when built. Those will be more expensive to reconstruction, according to Graham.

“A lot of these need to be rebuilt,” he said. “There is nothing more that can be done.”

The post-incorporation roads, constructed 1990 or later, met subdivision standards at the time of construction.

Sixty-five percent of the pre-incorporation roads have a Pavement Condition Index (PCI) number of 60 or less (51-60 is considered “fair” condition). Thirty-four percent are below 50, or marginal to very poor.

Post-incorporation roads fare much better in the PCI numbers with 87% ranging from good (61-70) to excellent condition.

Overall, about 31% of the streets have a PCI of 60 or below, or very poor to fair. The remaining 69% fall in the good to excellent range.

The current average PCI for local Fountain Hills streets is 68, in the good category. However, the current backlog (streets with a PCI of 40 and requiring full reconstruction) is 10.5% of the local streets. The $10 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds received by the Town were used for public safety, however, the budget savings has been allocated to the streets. That money will be used over the next two fiscal years, including the current, to rebuild about eight miles of pavement.

“Following the scenario modeling and prioritization of road projects, the Citizen Street Committee will return to council with results and multi-year budget recommendations to address pavement management of the Town’s entire street network,” the report states.

Graham said the committee will follow up with a focus on public education related to pavement management needs and to support funding necessary to address the street network.

Councilman Allen Skillicorn has proposed a “streets first” initiative that would allocate $6 million next fiscal year to street repairs. He proposes to cut discretionary spending as offset for the funds. He is also asking for monthly reports from the Public Works department at council meetings. The reports would include information on what repairs have been made, planned repairs, future road and infrastructure and checklists.

Skillicorn has asked that a resolution to adopt his initiative be prepared for council consideration. Skillicorn also said he would not support any bond proposal as a funding source for streets repair.

The overall objective of the Streets Committee effort is to eventually have the entire network in a maintenance only scenario, significantly reducing annual costs.