| | Published August 31st, 2011
| Urgent Road Repairs: New Policy in the Works
| | Laurie Snyder |  | | Urgent issues such as this one on Zander Drive receive priority attention from Orinda's Public Works and Engineering Department.
Photo courtesy City of Orinda
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Earlier this year the Orinda City Council directed $63,750 toward the repair of problems on six Orinda streets, raising questions about the manner in which repairs are classified as urgent and prioritized for repair by City staff. The Council directed Public Works staff to work with the Orinda Citizens' Infrastructure Oversight Committee (CIOC) to draft a new policy clarifying the criteria for emergency and urgent repairs. Chuck Swanson, director of Public Works and Engineering Services for the City of Orinda, presented a draft to the Council for comment at its mid-August meeting.
The CIOC, a committee set up by the City Council to ensure that Orinda's infrastructure issues (drainage, roads, etc.) are addressed in the most cost and time efficient manner possible, is comprised of a group of subject matter experts who reside in Orinda and volunteer their expertise as advisors to the Council.
After the Council meeting, Swanson explained that the City has had a good policy in place for several years that defines how the majority of repair work is implemented for Orinda's roads. Due to budgetary constraints, those repairs are currently restricted to roadways classified as Arterials, Collectors, and School Routes.
Saying that it's "not necessarily how much traffic" the streets carry, but "how they perform," Swanson suggested that residents interested in having a better understanding of this overall classification system review the roadway classification chart that's available on the City's website.
Many residential, or "Local," roads that were placed on the back burner for maintenance show signs of deterioration from time to time-those maintenance issues that are potentially serious, or require repairs which are beyond the capabilities of City staff, are elevated to "urgent" status and prioritized for action by the CIOC using its existing list of urgent repair criteria.
The draft revised policy, which combines the Pavement Management Program and the list of criteria used to determine which roadways, including residential streets, should be prioritized for repair, is currently available on the City's website under City Council Agendas/Staff Reports for August 16, 2011, Item I-3.
A final revised policy, with a few minor wording changes requested by the Council, should be presented for approval at the September 20 Council meeting.
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 | | Map courtesy City of Orinda: http://orinda.waterware.com/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-514/090217H1SR.pdf | | | | | | | | | | | Advertisement | | |
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA