Pavements, Potholes, and Prices
(The Condition of our Streets)  
as appeared in the May 2008 Valley Journals

Did you know that the City of Holladay has over 90 miles of streets to care for?  Our streets are by far the City’s single largest asset.  They also represent our largest maintenance cost.   Of course, we all feel the pain of high oil prices each time we fill our cars with gas.   Escalating oil prices are similarly impacting the maintenance of our roads.  Over the past five years oil prices have quadrupled and asphalt prices have tripled, while gas tax revenues for street maintenance have remained relatively flat.  We are quickly loosing ground in maintaining this important asset.     

During the month of March, all of Holladay’s streets were visually inventoried to document their condition.  Our findings are probably not surprising to residents who drive these streets each day.  Currently 48% of our streets are in “good” or better condition, 18% are in “fair” condition, and 34% are considered “poor” to “failed”.    The current cost to bring our roads up to “good” condition is estimated to be $25 million based on today’s pricing.   That cost is projected to at least triple over the next ten years if we simply continue with the current maintenance program and budgeting levels.  Roads would continue to deteriorate while construction costs continued to rise.  Simply stated, properly addressing street maintenance issues today is necessary to prevent serious economic impact to the city in the future.

Neighborhood meetings will be scheduled by your City Council representative in the near future to discuss the state of the streets, as well as other community issues.   We encourage you to attend, ask questions, and offer your comments.   For those who wish to discuss this issue prior to the neighborhood meetings, we invite you to visit with your council representative or your city staff.