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2018 street resurfacing plan introduced

by Melanie Jongsma

LANSING, Ill. (March 20, 2018) – At the March 6 Committee of the Whole Meeting, Jeff Pintar introduced to the Board the concept of a proactive “pavement management program” that would guide how the Village addresses street repairs in 2018. The goal of the pavement management program would be to prolong the life cycle of Lansing roads, rather than focusing only on basic patching and resurfacing.

Of the approximately 100 miles of pavement in Lansing, the Village is responsible for about 90 miles, with the rest managed by County and State entities. Most of that pavement is residential streets.

Pintar explained that the first step in pavement management is assessing the current condition of the roads. This was done in 2014, and the assessment included all streets in the Village, rating them from Excellent to Failed. A chart of those ratings reveals the following:

  • Excellent (5.68%)
  • Very good (8.16%)
  • Good (19.34%)
  • Fair (24.74%)
  • Inferior (22.20%)
  • Poor (6.36%)
  • Failed (3.52%)

Pintar would like to not only repair the worst roads in Lansing, but also invest in the “blue and purple” roads—those rated Very Good and Good—because by investing maintenance money in them now, we can avoid investing higher dollars in repairing them after they fail.

Where the dollars will come from

The funding options that Pintar listed for a pavement management program include internal and external sources. Internal funding sources include:

  • General fund
  • Motor Fuel Tax (MFT)
  • TIF-eligible projects

And external funding sources include:

  • Federal funding (South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association)
  • County funding (Community Development Block Grants)
  • Various grant opportunities (CMAQ, ITEP, Invest in Cook)

Next steps

Moving forward, Pintar will use the data gathered in the 2015 Streets Assessment to put together a list of resurfacing, patching, and crack-sealing priorities as part of a holistic pavement management program.

“It’s easy to take a ‘worst first’ approach,” said Pintar. “It’s harder to spend money on streets that are in good shape. However, long-term, that’s the best bang for the buck—do some really bad streets, but also look at some streets that are in that middle range, and bring them back up a category or two.”

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Melanie Jongsma
Melanie Jongsma
Melanie Jongsma grew up in Lansing, Illinois, and believes The Lansing Journal has an important role to play in building community through trustworthy information.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Why does the village map only show a few blocks past 186th St.? I thought the village boundaries extend to Glenwood-Lansing Rd. 191st Place west of Burnham has been filled with potholes for the past few years. It’s impossible to drive straight through.

    • The full image of the map is quite tall, so I cropped it for use as a header image on this page. If you click on the PDF at the end of the story, you’ll be able to see the entire map.

  2. I think that Wentworth from Ridge to Bernice should be a main priority. It always has potholes all year long. It is in very bad shape for a main street through the village.

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