Street & Drainage

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The Street and Drainage Division are responsible for the safe operating condition of city streets, drainage ditches, storm sewers, and major outfalls.

Programs

This division is responsible for several programs that keep about 90 lane miles of city streets in good and safe condition for drivers. Repair programs include pothole repair, skin patch repair, asphalt overlay, concrete panel replacement, street sweeping, drainage improvements, mowing, limb trimming, and weed control.

Pothole Repair, Skin Patch Repair, and Asphalt Overlay

Laying asphalt Pothole repairs are made with asphalt and are normally repaired with a 2 person pothole patch truck. This 2 person truck makes the repair using a liquid asphalt emulsion and small stone aggregate. Usually, a repair made by the 2 person truck is complete within 15 minutes after arrival at the location.

Skin patches are asphalt repairs that are larger than potholes and smaller than a typical overlay project.A 3 person asphalt distributor crew or a 7 person roller crew is required to make this type of repair.Typically, these repairs are rectangular and completed in a few hours after the arrival.

Asphalt overlay is the resurfacing of a street that normally takes several days per street. The city plans overlay projects by individual streets. The overlay is not designed or intended to solve drainage problems or eliminate water ponding issues.Overlay extends the life of the roadway and addresses only the riding surface. The asphalt crew will move in with an asphalt paving machine and apply a new asphalt surface between 1 ½" to 2" thick. The city expects a minimum life of 5 years for an overlay project and some overlays can last 20 years.

Concrete Repairs

Concrete panel repairs are an option used on concrete streets and involve completely removing a section of old concrete, then placing new concrete. This is the most expensive repair method and is used only where concrete material is absolutely necessary.

Even small concrete repairs can take up to a week to complete.Asphalt can also be used to make a wide variety of repairs on concrete streets with excellent results. Asphalt repair cost are significantly less than the cost of concrete repairs.

Street Sweeping

Street sweeping is performed on curbed streets within the City weekly or as needed.

Drainage

Gradall (digger) and pipes Drainage improvements include flushing culverts under driveways and streets. The Street and Drainage Division will re-grade ditches that become heavily silted. Culverts are also flushed during this activity.Many off-road drainage ditches are cleaned and re-graded by the department.These off-road ditches collect stormwater from many smaller ditches and storm sewers and transport it to larger ditches.For culvert sizing requirements, please refer to the City's Design Standards.