New Study Underway to Improve Road Maintenance
The City of Melbourne has begun a scientific analysis of its roadways to help engineers plan for maintenance and repairs in the most cost-effective manner possible and with the least amount of disruption to our residents, business and visit...
The City of Melbourne has begun a scientific analysis of its roadways to help engineers plan for maintenance and repairs in the most cost-effective manner possible and with the least amount of disruption to our residents, business and visitors.
Because it is far less expensive to maintain roads through resurfacing than to rebuild them, the Melbourne City Council has been proactive on road maintenance. For more than 10 years, they have dedicated a portion of our property taxes to roadway maintenance and roadway care.
To be sure funds are directed to where they are needed most, the City regularly conducts a full study of its roadways to inform its Pavement Management Plan. For the latest survey, the City’s consultant Michael Baker International will employ state-of-the-art technology, including 3D laser scanners, survey-grade LiDAR, pavement profiling lasers, ultra-high-definition cameras, and high-accuracy navigation systems to gather current conditions of all City-maintained roadways.
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All of this data will be analyzed and assessed to give an unbiased grading of City roadways, which will then be used by City staff to create a list of priority projects. The results will serve as a guideline to help us manage our roads in the most cost-effective manner possible.
For example, engineers will use data from the study to determine when best to resurface each of our roads to keep them from needing to be completely reconstructed. Resurfacing preserves the underlying layers of the road so that they last longer. Full reconstruction is much more extensive, requiring different types of construction equipment, much more material, and more time for engineering and design work — making it up to 20 times more expensive than resurfacing alone.
The full study should be done by the end of 2026, and the information will be used to update the City’s Pavement Management Plan by early 2027.
Photo and story credit: Photo: City of Melbourne / melbourneflorida.org. Originally published by the City of Melbourne.
