Division Street under construction in downtown Ann Arbor on June 13, 2017. (Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News)

By Ryan Stanton | ryanstanton@mlive.com

When Ann Arbor officials had a serious talk about street conditions two years ago, they acknowledged only about half the city's 287 miles of paved streets were in good or better condition.

They’re hoping to increase that to 80 percent by 2026, and they say they have a plan to get there.

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Screenshot from city of Ann Arbor revenue presentation on Sept. 11, 2017.

Ann Arbor counting on state of Michigan

This chart shows a 10-year history going back to 2007 and a 10-year projection out to 2027 looking at actual and forecasted revenues for street repair and replacement in Ann Arbor, not counting revenue the city receives from a countywide road tax.

“We have a local millage that helps with the replacement of streets, but we also get a significant amount from the state in what we call the road and gas tax,” Tom Crawford, the city’s chief financial officer, said last week while presenting the information to the City Council.

“You’ll notice as you look over time going forward, the blue area — the one on the bottom — has a pretty slow increase. It doesn’t really increase a whole lot over the timeframe,” Crawford said, referring to revenue from the city’s street millage.

“However, most of the increase comes from the red and the green areas — the ones stacked above the blue — and those areas represent commitments from the state where they’ve committed to fund an increased funding to the roads. So, to the extent that that commitment is met, staff believes that we will have sufficient funding to achieve our quality goal on roads and streets.”

The city also has had a boost in funding from a countywide road tax for the last few years and that tax was approved by voters last year to continue for four more years.

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Third Street under construction in Ann Arbor on Sept. 5, 2017. (Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News)

Plan of attack

In spring 2014, the city hired a consultant to rate all paved city streets, finding 27 percent in poor condition, 21 percent in fair condition, 36 percent in good condition and 16 percent in excellent condition.

The city plans to do a pavement condition evaluation every three years and had another one done this year, but the data is still being processed and not expected to be released until later this fall.

Using a software system, the city is able to calculate the remaining life of streets based on their ratings, and the city is now using that data to figure out the right fixes for different streets at different times, with more of a focus on doing capital preventative maintenance.

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Jefferson Street being resurfaced in Ann Arbor on Aug. 31, 2017. (Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News)

5.3 miles in 2013-14

In fiscal year 2013-14, the city resurfaced about 1.6 miles of local neighborhood streets and two miles of major streets, while completing major reconstruction on 1.7 miles of streets, for a total of 5.3 miles worth of streets that saw improvements that year, measured in centerline miles.

The city didn’t do any capital preventative maintenance such as crack sealing and thin mill-and-fill projects in 2013-14.

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Sixth Street under construction in Ann Arbor on Sept. 5, 2017. (Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News)

8.25 miles in 2014-15

In fiscal year 2014-15, the city expanded the types of treatments for city streets, doing more than 2.1 miles of capital preventative maintenance in addition to more than five miles of resurfacing and more than a mile of major reconstruction, for a total of 8.25 miles worth of streets that saw some improvements that year.

That represented about a 56 percent increase in miles of streets treated in 2014-15.

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A newly resurfaced Liberty Street at First Street with newly painted crosswalks in downtown Ann Arbor on Sept. 6, 2017. (Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News)

13.6 miles in 2015-16

In fiscal year 2015-16, the city again increased its efforts, with about 13.6 miles of streets seeing some type of treatment, a 65 percent increase.

That included 7.7 miles worth of capital preventative maintenance, 5.4 miles worth of resurfacing and about half a mile of major reconstruction.

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Information graphic provided by city of Ann Arbor.

59.3 miles in 2016-17

The biggest jump came in 2016-17, the fiscal year that just ended June 30. The city quadrupled the number of miles treated, touching 59.3 miles of streets, most of that in the form of capital preventative maintenance.

The city did 55.3 miles of crack sealing and thin mill-and-fill projects, plus 2.5 miles of resurfacing and 1.4 miles of reconstruction.

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Fifth Street is resurfaced in Ann Arbor on Aug. 16, 2017. (Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News)

Work continues in summer 2017

The city has continued efforts to improve street conditions with many crumbling streets getting repairs this summer, including several streets in and around the downtown and various neighborhoods. The Old West Side neighborhood, where the streets had been in rough shape for years, saw several of its streets resurfaced this summer.

The city also has continued to do capital preventative maintenance to extend the life of pavement on various streets.

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A newly resurfaced Fourth Street in Ann Arbor on Aug. 16, 2017. (Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News)

Shift in use of funds

According to information provided by the city, $500,000 from the city’s street millage was dedicated to capital preventative maintenance last fiscal year and again this fiscal year, which started July 1. The city also used $333,907 in Act 51 money from the state for capital preventative maintenance last fiscal year, upping that to $1,521,138 for this fiscal year.

Robert Kellar, a spokesman for the city, said capital preventative maintenance is being done with existing funds.

“This is a shift of how the city uses millage and street funds,” he said in an email. “In essence, the city is looking to spend less on full resurfacing and reconstruction projects and more on CPM treatments. This is important because investing in the maintenance of pavement throughout its lifespan is more cost effective in the long run than investing in it only at the end of its life. As these mid-life treatments are typically less expensive than resurfacing and reconstruction, that leads to an overall increase in miles of pavement treated.”

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Catherine Street under construction in downtown Ann Arbor on Aug. 14, 2017. (Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News)

2017 capital preventative maintenance

Giving a better idea of some of the areas of focus, in June the city released this 2017 work plan for capital preventative maintenance, separate from other scheduled resurfacing and reconstruction projects.

Thin mill and fill

• Catherine Street (Main to Glen)

• Church Street (Geddes to South University)

• Liberty Street (Scio Ridge to Maple)

• Miller Avenue (M-14 to Maple)

• Stadium Boulevard (Hutchins to Main)

• State Street (I-94 to Ellsworth)

Crack sealing

• Barton Drive (Pontiac to Plymouth)

• Depot Street (State to Glen)

• Dexter Avenue (Maple to Huron)

• Fuller Road (Glen to bridge over Huron River)

• Glen Avenue (Huron to Fuller)

• Miller Avenue (Maple to Newport)

• Packard Street (Stadium to Anderson)

• Platt Road (Packard to I-94)

• Pontiac (railroad to John A. Woods)

• Stadium Boulevard (South Industrial to Packard)

• About 31 additional miles of local streets

Surface treatments

• Huron Parkway (Washtenaw to Geddes)

• Stadium Boulevard (Maple to Pauline)

• Ann Arbor-Saline Road (Main to Eisenhower)

• About five additional miles of local streets

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A plan for 2018 improvements along Fifth Avenue and Detroit Street in Ann Arbor's Kerrytown district. Design by SmithGroupJJR.

2018 and beyond

The city hasn't yet released a full list of streets expected to see repairs in 2018, but a major reconstruction of Fifth Avenue and Detroit Street in the Kerrytown district is planned. Read more about that project.

City Engineer Nick Hutchinson said the city is planning a few other longer-term projects on major streets in 2018, including:

Jackson Avenue (from the end of MDOT's jurisdiction to Wagner) resurfacing and rehabilitation work

Pauline Boulevard (Stadium to Seventh) water main replacement and resurfacing

Scio Church Road (Seventh to Main) resurfacing plus sidewalk construction

There also will be other surface treatment and capital preventative maintenance work in 2018, but those will be shorter-term projects with less impact, and there will be more resurfacing work on local neighborhood streets, Hutchinson said.

Other major street reconstruction projects planned in the coming years are identified in the city's capital improvements plan available here.