Ann Arbor streets to get additional $550,000 facelift before construction season is over
Residents along Spring Street protested the decay of their neighborhood street earlier this year and their voices were heard.
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
The council voted 10-0 on a $550,000 contract amendment with Barrett Paving Materials Inc. to increase the scope of the city's street resurfacing program for 2011.
The funds for the extra work are coming from a variety of sources, including the city's street millage. The millage is up for renewal in November along with a separate request for a slight increase to fund sidewalk repairs with street millage money going forward.
Monday's action amends the original $3.7 million contract with Barrett Paving, which included resurfacing or reconstructing six major streets and six residential streets.
As of mid-July, the program is ahead of schedule, which offered the opportunity to resurface more streets before the end of the construction season, according to Homayoon Pirooz, head of the city's project management unit.
Pirooz offered an overview of the additional street work in a memo to council. He said that includes work on Spring Street, Miller Avenue, North Division Street and Oxford Street, as well as $80,000 worth of crack sealing at the following locations:
For more detailed descriptions of the projects, read Pirooz's memo here.
In a recent email newsletter sent to residents, Council member Sabra Briere, D-1st Ward, shared a report on the street millage's revenue and expenditures (download it here).
Council Member Mike Anglin, D-5th Ward, was absent from Monday's meeting.
Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's e-mail newsletters.
Comments
Kyle Nathaniel
Sat, Sep 10, 2011 : 4:14 p.m.
I still don't see the street that needs the most attention on here: Carpenter Rd between Washtenaw and Packard.
foobar417
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 5:49 p.m.
I'm not sure why it seems so complicated or nefarious, but maybe I'm missing some contradictory evidence. A reasonable interpretation is that the city built up a large fund in order to pay for the Stadium Bridge. They, they got word of a grant of federal funds to rebuild the bridge. Great news! But, to be cautious, they have held on to those funds through this construction season to make sure every i was dotted and every t was crossed and the federal funds are dispersed when they start rebuilding the bridge next month. Next construction season, they will start spending down the accumulated balance that was held "just in case" for the Stadium Bridge.
Tom Whitaker
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 6:25 p.m.
See my post above. When funds are routinely pulled out of dedicated millages to use on pet projects, usually under the radar, trust in our local government is eroded. This is especially dubious when we're told that the same reallocation strategy cannot legally be applied to essential services like police and fire. Further, the almost total lack of direct communication from the Mayor and most Councilmembers about their plans only allows for rumor, suspicion, and assumption to fill the void.
Tom Whitaker
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 4:47 p.m.
Take a look at Councilmember Briere's report (linked at the bottom of the story) and pay particular attention to line items 9706 and 9999 where a total of $2,281,564 of our street tax money has been set aside for the Fuller Road parking structure project. The City Council also authorized over $1.2 million in water/sewer millage and rate-payer revenue to fund "Fuller Road Parking Structure, Phase Zero"--the relocation of a large sewer pipe out of the way of the parking structure foundations (among other utility work in preparation for the structure). In addition, there's already been $1.5 million allocated/spent from various sources on design, engineering, and administration of the Fuller Road project. That's a total of about $3.5 million already spent or allocated on the Fuller Road parking structure without a City Council vote on the merits of the project itself, or a public vote on the reallocation of parkland for this purpose. To add insult to injury, with all this money being siphoned off for the Fuller Road parking structure, Percent for Art, administrative overhead, etc., City Council also voted to raise our water/sewer rates this year! Until the Mayor and Council can stop shifting dedicated money away from basic services that need the money, and into their pet projects, I will vote no on any new millage proposals.
Joe Hood
Sat, Sep 10, 2011 : 3:37 a.m.
@Ryan Bravo!
Ryan J. Stanton
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 5:19 p.m.
You missed 9851 - Fuller Intermodal Train Station - $64,592.
racerx
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 4:18 p.m.
Mmm....$500K before the end of the year. Renewal of street millage on the ballot this November. But, there is $28M in the current street millage fund unused. Why now? Oh, maybe, just maybe, this bucket won't be touch for any other uses. Seemingly so, since it's not being used now!
brimble
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 4:04 p.m.
It would be interesting to know on what basis these particular sections were chosen. As well, what is the comprehensive and long-term plan for addressing the condition of roads in Ann Arbor? Surely it is not literally a patchwork of a little here and a little there? Is road repair and maintenance an honest priority on the part of city decision-makers? Ahead of or behind, say, funding fire coverage, water department, parks, greenbelt, art, or biking paths? I'm not suggesting that there are absolute right answers, just asking journalists to ask public officials to be clear about their priorities. Do we have journalists, and do public officials see it in their own best interest to be clear?
Stephen Landes
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 2:35 p.m.
Considering that we have the money for street repair already set aside in its own tidy fund, the time to be doing these repairs is right now when there are people out of work and companies looking for work to bid on. This is the time when we should be able to get the most work done for our money. Maybe our City is waiting for better economic times when construction companies are busy, so they can pay higher costs then for work that could be less expensive today.
a2dancelady
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 1:34 p.m.
And who is responsible for paving the horrible section of Ann Arbor-Saline Rd. that goes over I-94 from Eisenhower to the Oak Valley Mall entrance? The very least that should be done is to repaint the lane markers!
foobar417
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 4:36 p.m.
I believe there has been past discussion that it is debated between the city and state who owns that stretch.
lindsay erin
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 2:08 p.m.
The wheels on my car feel like they're going to fall off every time I drive through the area you've mentioned. And that stretch has a *very* high volume of traffic in the morning rush, evening rush, and even lunch time. (Not to mention game day at U of M.)
Ed Kimball
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 1:10 p.m.
Ahead of schedule? What is the status of the repairs to Glazier Way promised this summer? There are orange barrels, but no work has started. And is the city planning to leave the access hole (formerly "manhole") covers an inch or so above surface level on the newly-paved Green Road? What's up with that?
foobar417
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 4:34 p.m.
Usually that means they are coming back for a second coat several weeks later.
Bertha Venation
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 1:04 p.m.
Who made this list? Dexter Ave. between Huron and Maple is in much worse condition that a lot of the streets listed.
foobar417
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 4:34 p.m.
And it's on the list for a major rebuild in spring 2012. <a href="http://www.a2gov.org/government/publicservices/project_management/upcomingprojects/Pages/De.aspx" rel='nofollow'>http://www.a2gov.org/government/publicservices/project_management/upcomingprojects/Pages/De.aspx</a> As has been stated in response to the comments thread that comes out after every single one of these articles.
buildergirl
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 12:29 p.m.
All the complaining on the comments of many new articles many be working since some of the roads are finally getting some attention. Could it have anything to do with the approaching election? Jackson is pretty too...
BikerMatt
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 12:11 p.m.
Why, oh why have they not resurfaced Miller yet? Have they seen that road? And the traffic on it is crazy, so it just gets worse and worse.
foobar417
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 4:32 p.m.
Part of Miller is on the list for this year. A big chunk of Miller is on the list for 2013, according to the city website. Dexter is on the list for a real rebuild in spring 2012, according to the city website.
Marilyn Wilkie
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 12:34 p.m.
Miller is on the list as stated in the article. I'm wondering about Dexter Rd.
Guinea Pig in a Tophat
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 12:09 p.m.
Love the picture. A little bummed that Jackson around Jackson/Maple isn't being repaired. I put in a request for a pothole repair months ago, and it was fixed in two days. The pothole was back in three days. That road needs so much help.
Stephen Lange Ranzini
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 11:43 a.m.
Question: if there is $28 million to $30 million in the city's road millage fund why isn't all of that being spent? $550,000 is just a drop from this bucket (pun intended). The city has the third highest number of miles of roads in poor condition of any city in the state!
Gasmaskted
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 1:36 p.m.
Is there a source to provide where A2 ranks in terms of numbers of street miles? If it has the third most street miles, it would be expected that it would have the the third most number of miles of roads in poor condition. (Additionally, is "poor" the lowest rank? It is feasible that there are lower ranks, and that a high proportion of "poor" roads could actually improve the average ranking. And of course having a large number of poor roads could still leave us with the best average in the state; a city with only 10 miles of poor roads could be composed entirely of poor roads, whereas Ann arbor could have many times that in poor roads and still have it be a small proportion of the whole.)
Ashok Gopalakrishnan
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 12:29 p.m.
Yes, what is the status of the $30 million in the streets millage fund? What is the need for a new millage if the city has not bothered to spend any of the money it has collected so far? $80,000 worth of crack sealing - who is the A2 city council kidding? The reporting by Pat Lesko on this subject at the A2politico web site is eye-opening.
Arieswoman
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 10:52 a.m.
Ann Arbor Road from Eisenhower to Oak Valley is a mess! It needs paving badly.
lugemachine
Fri, Sep 9, 2011 : 10:12 a.m.
I hope that the City and the University one day work out a deal to repair Observatory. It's a primary commuter, bus and ambulance route that sees a high number of pedestrian/student traffic. It's in disastrous condition.