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What is a Pavement Management Program
and What it does for Us
Each week we receive at least one inquiry or comment regarding our City roadway pavement conditions. These inquiries usually start with, e.g., “My street is bad and needs to be repaved, when is it going to be repaved?” or “I see there is roadway paving in other parts of this City, when is my street going to get paved?” or, directly stated, “When are you going to fix my street?” The questions/comments we receive regarding our City’s roadway conditions typically are polite (mostly when we are doing roadway repaving work) and other times not so polite. Just to let you all know, we understand why we receive these comments, no matter how they are delivered to us. In this update, I will provide you with information on how we are scheduling repaving work around the City.
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Right up front, I will preface that all roadway repaving or maintenance work is driven by available funds. Whether a roadway needs to be paved or maintained, it can only be done with the available funds. This is a universal challenge for all the cities across the United States, so we are not alone.
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To get right into this update, paving schedules are usually determined by a Pavement Management Program (PMP) that an agency establishes and updates. In our City, PMPs had been established and maintained prior to 2014, but during times when staffing levels were diminished (the Great Recession) and funds for roadway maintenance were equally diminished, thus maintenance of the PMP was a low priority as there were no funds to do any of the work.
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In 2014 the City Public Works Department embarked on re-establishing and energizing the Pavement Management Program (PMP). To reinitiate the PMP, there were a couple of major things City Engineering Division Staff had to complete. One was to re-evaluate all the City roadways and assign each roadway segment a “Pavement Condition Index (PCI)” number. Determining the PCI involves an evaluation of each City roadway section, block by block. The evaluation is based on asphalt cracking, crack widths, rutting, roughness, depth of pavement, and other surface distresses. In 2014 and 2015 Staff completed this City-wide survey manually.
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The second step was to map the streets in accordance with each street’s PCI number rating by color. The higher the PCI number the better condition the roadway is in. Each street is ranked as either “Good, Fair, Poor, or Very Poor”, the latter reflecting the lowest PCI numbers. This all took time resulting in a color-coded City roadway map that Staff used as the base for roadway repaving and maintenance budgeting discussions.
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The last step, and hardest one, was to evaluate each street on what improvements would be needed to reconstruct, rehabilitate, and/or maintain the street to attain a projected 24-year street life. In non-engineering terms, a new fully reconstructed roadway, with adequate maintenance every 5 to 7 years, should be able to last 24 years before another full reconstruction would be needed.
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Ultimately, this base information and color-coded map assisted Staff in determining which streets should be reconstructed, overlay paved, and/or rubberized slurry sealed. Of course, all this projected work was subject to available funds. Roadway reconstruction requires a significant amount of investment. (In perspective, the estimate back in 2014 to reconstruct all the City streets was over $129 million.)
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The 2014 PMP worked adequately for the first few years. With the infusion of new funding sources, e.g. SB-1 and Maintenance of Effort matches in 2017, the City was able to add more street rehabilitation work to the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) list in support of the PMP. The challenge was that the 2014 PMP was not nimble enough (as all input and output was performed visually and manually) to generate the various roadway maintenance programs and funding scenarios with the available Staff hours. And note that the available funding was the victim of the same inflation that consumers were seeing. Since 2019, City roadway construction costs have been rising more than 20 percent per year. Staff were continually having to increase paving project costs as the price of materials and labor continued to increase respectively.
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Early in 2022, it was decided that a computer-based software tool (program) was needed to keep pace with the available roadway improvement funds and the upcoming roadway maintenance that had to be completed, despite inflation. Thus, that year the City Council approved the City Engineering Division’s budget request for hiring a PMP consultant/expert.
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The PMP consultant was required to complete a City-wide roadway assessment on all the City’s 157 centerline miles of public roadways. Using a sophisticated GPS-equipped vehicle with dual-mounted laser scanners positioned downward toward the roadway, the consultant’s team drove each City Street to complete the City-wide data-gathering portion of the project. The result was each roadway segment had been accurately scanned and video recorded. This data was necessary to determine the updated PCI rating.
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Once all the streets were rated, the consultant input the information from the roadway assessment into our newly licensed roadway maintenance software tool (this software program is widely used by other City’s in the US). The consultant then ran three pavement treatment scenarios (strategies) through the program. The first scenario was to determine the costs to get all the City’s streets into a “Good” condition within five years. The second scenario was to determine the costs to maintain the City’s streets at the current PCI rating over the next five years. The last scenario was to determine that if the current available funding is all we have access to, how much would the PCI decrease over the next five years. All these steps took time to complete and the new PMP was presented to the City Council last June.
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Subsequently, City Staff were trained on the implementation, use and maintenance of the PMP software program. The software, based on various input parameters, creates matrices that provide Staff the necessary information on what roadways should be repaved or rehabilitated. Additionally, the program provides recommendations on the most cost-effective maintenance methods. Again, available funding for pavement projects is always a parameter. As an affirmation to the past PMP, the new software-based PMP output very closely mirrored the 2014 manual PMP output. This was confirmation that the City’s past roadway PMP was always on the right track.
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All this information leads to the fact that all the City streets have been assessed as to their condition. We see what you see as a resident and motorist. Moving forward, new paving projects and rehabilitation roadwork will be evaluated with this PMP software as support to determine what projects are to be recommended for upcoming Capital Improvement Program (CIP) projects for the next biennial budgets.
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I encourage all to take a look at the PMP presentation provided to the City Council on June 14, 2023, during their Study Session. The video can be seen using the following link:
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As I stated and restated throughout this update, the PMP works best with enough funding to do the work the program output offers. We will talk more about the City’s current available roadway rehabilitation funding, assessment districts, grants, what other cities do for roadway funding, and other opportunities to increase funding for roadways in my next update.
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If you have any questions regarding this Community Update and the Projects discussed, please contact me.
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Mark Your Calendars - The Fourth Annual Desert Open Studios Has New Dates and New Format
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The Desert Open Studios (DOS) organizing committee recently announced that the free, self-directed studio tour will be held Friday, Saturday and Sunday Jan. 26, 27 and 28, 2024. Participating artists’ studios will be open to the public from 11:00 a.m. through until 4:00 p.m. each day. Founded by artists in 2021, Desert Open Studios has grown to more than 160 … Read more
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Cathedral City Police Department Holding DUI Checkpoint Jan. 19, 2024
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On Jan. 19, 2024, the Cathedral City Police Department will conduct a driving under the influence (DUI) Checkpoint from 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. at an undisclosed location within the city limits. DUI checkpoint locations are determined based on data showing incidents of impaired driving-related crashes. The primary purpose of DUI checkpoints are to promote public safety by taking suspected … Read more
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Savor the Spirit of Mexico at the Annual Taste of Jalisco Festival February 2-4, 2024
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Celebrate the culture, cuisine, music, and fun of Mexico at the 8th Annual Taste of Jalisco Festival in Cathedral City from Feb. 2-4, 20241. Enjoy carnival rides, tequila tastings, wrestling matches, live entertainment, and more.
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Coachella Valley Repertory Presents Immersive Production of Kander and Ebb’s CABARET, Jan. 24 - Feb. 11, 2024
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CVRep presents Cabaret, a musical that portrays a time and place that compels audiences to answer one question: What would you do? Cabaret runs Jan. 24-Feb. 11, 2024. Tickets are available online at www.cvrep.org.
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Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic Returns to Big League Dreams in Cathedral City, Feb. 22-25, 2024
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The Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic (MNCC) returns to Cathedral City’s Big League Dreams Sports Park, located at 33700 Date Palm Drive, Feb. 22-25, 2024. MNCC is the nation’s largest and most prestigious preseason college softball tourney, featuring more than 25 Top Division I NCAA softball teams. Every game of the 20th annual …Read more
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Free Yoga Classes Begin Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, at Cathedral City Community Amphitheater
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The Cathedral City Parks and Community Events Commission proudly brings free yoga classes to the Cathedral City Community Amphitheater, 68526 Avenida Lalo Guerrero, Cathedral City. Gentle Yoga will take place at 8:30-9:30 a.m. and Power Yoga at 10:00-11:00 a.m. every Tuesday morning starting Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. Classes will run through …Read more
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Smoke Alarm Installation
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January 20, 2024
Cathedral City Fire in partnership with the American Red Cross will be conducting a smoke alarm installation campaign throughout the community. Our dedicated team of firefighters and volunteers will visit homes to install and test smoke alarms, ensuring that every household is equipped with this life-saving device. Read more
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Yoga at the Amphitheater
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January 23, 2024
Yoga at the Amphitheater is a free community event series sponsored by the City of Cathedral City. It offers two types of yoga classes: gentle yoga for beginners and power yoga for more advanced practitioners. The classes are held every Tuesday morning from January 23rd through March 26th at the Cathedral City Community Amphitheater. Read more
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4th Annual Desert Open Studios
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January 26 - 28, 2024
Mark your calendars - The 4th Annual Desert Open Studios has new dates and new format The DOS organizing committee announced this week that the free, self-directed studio tour will be held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, January 26, 27, and 28, 2024. Participating artists’ studios will be open to the public from 11:00 am through until 4:00 pm each day. …
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The Perez Art District's Fourth Fridays
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January 26
The Perez Art District’s highly anticipated Art Walk occurs on 4th Fridays @ 4pm. This is an immersive experience for art enthusiasts and the local community alike. The Art Walk offers a unique chance to witness the creative process across a variety of disciplines, including painting, sculpture, photography, and mixed media. Conveniently located at 68845 Perez Rd in Cathedral City, California, … Read more
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Taste of Jalisco
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February 2 - 4, 2024
Save the date to celebrate the sights, sounds, and tastes of the state of Jalisco, Mexico at the 8th Annual Taste of Jalisco Festival presented by Agua Caliente Casinos, to be held February 2 – 4, 2024, in downtown Cathedral City. This annual celebration honors the 27-year sister city relationship between Cathedral City and Tequila, Jalisco (Mexico) through culture, cuisine, music, and fashion. Read more
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Emergency Preparedness Community Workshop
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February 3, 2024
Saturday, February 3rd at 11 am at Agua Caliente Elementary School. All attendees receive basic knowledge on how to prepare for major emergencies. There is no cost for this workshop. The first 25 people who show up will receive an emergency preparedness kit. For more information about any of these events, please contact Fire Administration at 760-770-8200 or visit our … Read more
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Tastes & Sounds of Cathedral City - Cathedral City High School Bands
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Indulge in a weekly feast for the senses at Tastes and Sounds of Cathedral City! Immerse yourself in a musical and culinary adventure like no other. Join us in Downtown Cathedral City every week from February 13 to April 9, 2024, and savor the flavors, rhythms, and talents of our vibrant community! Free Admittance. Food for purchase... Read more
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Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic
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February 22-25, 2024
The Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic (MNCC) returns to Cathedral City’s Big League Dreams Sports Park, located at 33700 Date Palm Drive, Feb. 22-25, 2024. MNCC is the nation’s largest and most prestigious preseason college softball tourney, featuring more than 25 Top Division I NCAA softball teams. Every game of the 20th annual Mary Nutter Classic will be available live …Read more
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Employment
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CITIZENS ON PATROL (COP)
IT TECHNICIAN
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PAYROLL SPECIALIST/COORDINATOR (DOQ)
POLICE CADET
POLICE OFFICER - LATERAL/ACADEMY GRADUATE
POLICE OFFICER RECRUIT
RESERVE POLICE OFFICER
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