Beavercreek: Rising costs reduces and delays road projects
The City of Beavercreek will pay more for road projects in 2022 due to rising material and labor costs. As a result, the city has been forced to reduce and delay street resurfacing projects planned for this year.
Due to current funding, the city allocates $2.3 million every year to repave and repair streets and curbs as part of its annual Street Resurfacing and Curb Replacement Program. This year, the city received a contract bid 25 percent higher compared to 2021. City records show the prices for its resurfacing program has increased 188 percent since 2000.
As a result, the city is planning to resurface approximately 5.67 centerline miles of streets in 2022. This number is lower compared to previous years, which ranged from 8.5 to 15.32 centerline miles of road.
Streets included in Beavercreek’s Street Resurfacing and Curb Replacement Program are determined by the city’s engineering department. Every year, staff evaluates city streets and scores their condition using a formula created by the Ohio Department of Transportation. The streets with the lowest scores are added to the program. Once the streets listed in this year’s program are completed, the city will determine if there are remaining funds to repave additional streets.
“The city has 253 centerline miles of roads,” said Pete E. Landrum, City Manager of the City of Beavercreek. “At this rate, if we are only able to repave the streets included in this year’s program, it would take the city nearly 45 years to repair and/or replace every street in Beavercreek, whereas the average lifespan of a road is 20 to 25 years. This calculation does not take into consideration new or widened roads that will be added in the future that the city will also be responsible for maintaining. We hope to repave additional streets this year, if possible.”
Rising costs has also forced the city to delay a major resurfacing project along one of Beavercreek’s most traveled roadways. The city planned to resurface North Fairfield Road, between Commons and Crossing Boulevards, in 2022. The city budgeted $1.3 million for the project, but the lowest bid received was $2.3 million, which forced the city to reject all of the bids and delay the project to 2023.
While the City of Beavercreek relies heavily on federal and state grants to fund road projects, grants do not typically cover routine maintenance and repaving of roads. Due to limited funds, the city must prioritize projects funded by grants, which still require the city to match 25 to 50 percent of the project’s costs. Grants can be awarded years before a project is started; therefore, the city is responsible for any increase in costs, including factors of inflation.
“This is not sustainable,” said Landrum. “Currently, the city does not have any funding for sidewalk replacement or stormwater projects, so as the costs of street projects increases, so does the city’s backlog of infrastructure.”
The city expects to soon receive additional bids for two other projects, including the creation of McGrath Way, formerly part of Lantz Road, and replacing all of the traffic signals and poles at two intersections – one along Dayton-Xenia Road, the other along North Fairfield Road. The timeline for McGrath Way has already been postponed to 2023 due to a delay in materials. If bids for the intersections do not fall within the city’s budgetary estimates, that project may also have to be delayed.
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