San Diego City Streets*

Recommendations 4

• 07-56

  Page 1
  </b> Follow through with the proposed actions defined in the City response letters dated June 20, 2006 and January 22, 2007 to the 2005-2006 Grand Jury recommendations in the report titled San Diego City Street Conditions. <b>Response:</b> This recommendation has been implemented. The following specific actions have been taken: 1. <u>Training</u> - The formal trench cut repair training on construction methods, materials and standards has been implemented with City forces. The first training session was completed on November 29, 2006, with 44 attendees receiving completion certificates. Additional training sessions were offered on March 1, 2007; May 3, 2007; and May 17, 2007. To date, a total of 184 personnel from different city departments have completed the training and received completion certificates. 2. Franchise Utility Work – The four franchise utility companies (AT&T, Cox, San Diego Gas & Electric, and Time Warner) are now required to obtain right-of-way permits through Development Services Department prior to performing excavation work in the City's right-of-way. This process has been implemented during the time period since the City's January 22, 2007 response letter. 3. Trench Cut Ordinance and Tracking System - A reporting and tracking database has been created within an existing City GIS-based system called City Works. All work performed in the City right-of-way as part of Capital Improvement Projects (CIP), private work in public right of way (permits), or work done by City forces, is tracked by an automated tracking system. Information such as location; description; responsible department, agency or company; and contact information is captured in the database for the projects. Eleven months after completion of a project, a warranty inspection is initiated by the City's Engineering & Capital Projects Department's (E&CP) Field Division and conducted by the appropriate operations division or inspection team. If any deficiencies are identified during the warranty inspection, a request to perform the corrective work is sent to the appropriate parties. They are required to perform the corrective work of the request. The corrective work is inspected to ensure compliance with City standards. Metropolitan Wastewater Department and Water Department have been working with Streets Division to have final repairs of trenches performed by City forces. Temporary repairs are completed by the utility departments, and then Streets Division performs the final repairs. Presently, Streets Division is able to address only the ongoing trench repair requirements, not the backlog of final trench repairs that exists in the City. The utility departments have recently awarded a second construction contract for reduction of the backlog of final trench repair work. The first construction contract was completed during FY2007. The second contract will address approximately 650 trench repairs (400 for the Water Department and 250 for Metropolitan Wastewater Judge Sammartino July 16, 2007 Department). Water Department currently has a backlog of 4,024 trench repairs, while Metropolitan Wastewater Department's backlog is 848 trench repairs. It is likely the Metropolitan Wastewater Department's backlog will be eliminated over the next 4-5 years through the use of City forces and construction contractors. Water Department's backlog, however, will require a longer time period and higher levels of funding in the future. 4. Inspection, Testing and New Permit Requirements - E&CP now provides oversight for work performed by City departments and franchise utilities. The SLA trench crew ensures compaction requirements are met in accordance with City standards. E&CP's Senior Materials Engineer, Earl Lokers, performs random inspections of trench repairs to ensure that the repairs meet City standards. We anticipate that full inspections will be performed on at least two trenches per quarter. Additional inspections will be completed should significant problems with trench repairs be discovered. 5. Analysis Of Warranty Period – As mentioned in our January 22, 2007 letter, an analysis of the current one-year warranty period for CIP contracts revealed that less than one percent of trenches from contracted work show signs of distress or failure. Therefore, we believe that the added expense to CIP contracts of implementing an extended warranty would provide a small return. Instead, a three year follow-up inspection has been implemented to detect any additional failures occurring beyond the one year warranty inspection as a result of patent defects. Failures detected during this three year follow-up inspection that are determined to be the result of patent defects will initially be forwarded to the responsible contractor for repairs. If the contractor refuses to perform the necessary repairs or takes longer than the 30 days allowed, the work is assigned to City forces. The cost of the repairs performed by City forces is forwarded to the City Attorney's Office. The designated representative from the City Attorney's Office reviews each individual case to determine if the City will pursue cost recovery from the responsible contractor. 6. Centralized Trench Repair by City Forces - The City centralized trench repair work with a dedicated trench repair crew in Street Division. The crew consists of 40 personnel. The crew makes all final repairs to trenches for the City departments (Metropolitan Wastewater, Water) that make cuts in the City's streets. <b>
• 07-57

  Page 1
  </b> Pursue funding, through bonds and appropriations from the Federal and State Governments, to provide the needed $400 million to upgrade all of the city streets to an acceptable condition. Response: This recommendation will be implemented on an ongoing basis. The City has and will continue to pursue all funding sources for the street system. In the past, the Judge Sammartino July 16, 2007 City has been successful in obtaining Federal and State funding of the overall transportation system. With new opportunities presented by the State's recently passed bond propositions, the City will continue to aggressively compete for the available funds. Rather than attempting to upgrade all of the City streets to "Acceptable" condition, the goal will be to bring the streets system up to industry standards, which are a uniform Overall Condition Index of 60, with 75% of the system in "Acceptable" condition, 20% in "Fair" condition, and 5% in "Poor" condition. By way of comparison, freeway systems with higher volumes and speeds of traffic are not funded to a level that would allow all freeway sections to be upgraded to "Acceptable" condition. As the City competes with other agencies for limited funds, it is not practical to pursue the goal of all City streets being in "Acceptable" condition. <b>
• 07-58

  Page 1
  </b> Budget a minimum of $35 million per year at the conclusion of the aforementioned upgrade to maintain the streets in that condition. <b>Response:</b> This recommendation has been implemented for the FY2008 Budget (see Table 1). As mentioned in the response to Recommendation 07-57, the goal is to reach and then maintain the streets at industry standards (uniform Overall Condition Index of 60, with 75% of the system in "Acceptable" condition, 20 % in "Fair" condition, and 5 % in "Poor" condition). Although an annual budget of $35 million for streets maintenance and repair may be a reasonable estimate of today's costs, cost variations and escalation will cause this funding level to become obsolete over time. However, the key point is that the streets repair and resurfacing program should be funded at a level to allow the streets system to remain at industry standards for overall condition. <b>
• 07-59

  Page 1
  </b> Direct the Street Department to implement a comprehensive cost-effective repair and maintenance plan independent of council district location based on budget and the latest street assessment. Response: This recommendation has been implemented. Streets Division utilizes a city- wide pavement management system which addresses the most critical street deficiencies based on several factors: Overall Condition Index, Average Daily Traffic, surface oxidation, location, type of street, rate of determination, types and size of cracks, number of potholes, previous maintenance, drainage characterizations, quality of ride, utility conflict checks, constituent input, and lifecycle efficiencies (i.e., arrest deterioration prior to costly sub base failure). The plan relies most heavily on the latest street assessment, based on available budget and targeted goals to reach industry standards. ... Judge Sammartino July 16, 2007 Please contact Richard Haas, Deputy Chief of Public Works, at (619) 236-6750 if you have any questions. Sincerely, JERRY SANDERS Mayor JS/ms/jb Cc: