By ANN PIERCEALL
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
HANNIBAL, Mo. -- Hannibal's Director of Public Works Jamie Page was out on the streets compiling a list of city roads that need work.
It's a big list.
"There are easily over 50 streets that, really, we need to be doing something with," Page said. "Some are already so far gone they're at a point that we're going to have to repair them."
Page's inventory is part the city's plan to escalate improvement projects and resurfacing of Hannibal's streets. That plan was made possible after voters in April renewed the city's half-cent tax for street improvements.
Voter approved removing a sunset clause on the tax, allowing the city to issue $5.1 million in revenue bonds. Those 10-year bonds are scheduled to be issued in July. However, a reimbursement resolution passed by City Council April 15 means work can start now, and the city will be reimbursed after the bonds are issued.
The bonds will be used for six major street improvement projects. The first -- rebuilding Stardust Drive -- is expected to go to bid soon.
Using the bond money to pay for these larger projects frees up about $600,000 for street resurfacing projects, or nearly twice what the city has had to work with in the past.
The half-cent sales tax generates about $1.2 million a year. Almost $600,000 will go to repay the bonds, another $100,000 will be used for annual equipment replacement and maintenance, and the rest will be used for resurfacing projects.
Page said repairing crumbling streets costs more than a good resurfacing program. He is trying to develop a rating system for Hannibal's streets to prioritize work.
"We're basically rating those streets and awaiting budget estimates. That's going to tell me how many of the streets we can address," he said.
The list of streets to be worked on this summer will be a mix of those needing repair and simple resurfacing. Page said the rating system will rank streets from 1-10, with 10 being in the best shape. He said it's been "some time" since such an inventory has been done.
"In general, anything below a 6 or 7 will need a lot of pre-work done or basically (the top) will have to be removed and redone," he said.
Page said the idea is to catch the streets before they fall below a 7. By the time they're at a 6 rating, cracks are appearing in the streets and curbing, which means the base has failed and "it's going to need a lot of repair."
"In our case we've got a lot of those," Page said.
Page expects the resurfacing and repair work to begin in mid-summer. He knows a lot of residents will expect to see all the worst streets addressed first. But their expense can be prohibitive.
"We're going to start to do some of (the worst), but they're not going to get any worse," he said. "We've also got to get some of those at that 7 rating or they're going to be dropping below that. We can spend a lot less if we stop them from deteriorating more now. If we can seal them up and keep the water out of them it's going to extend their life.
"I'm trying to change the approach we've had of building a road and then walking away and coming back in four years when it's destroyed. If we do this in a more proactive way, there won't be as many reactive projects. Those are the ones that are the most expensive."
-- apierceall@whig.com/(573) 221-5879
