The majority of asphalt roads within the city of Roanoke Rapids are in fair condition, but repairs would come with a $17,399,290 price tag. 

That’s the consensus of a pavement condition survey presented to the city council Tuesday night by WithersRavenel, a Cary-based civil engineering company.

With the nearly $17.4 million price tag for repairing all the asphalt streets in the city, Public Works Director Larry Chalker said following the meeting, “Obviously, we can’t afford to do that. It would take such a major tax increase. So at the end of the day, we’re going to do the same thing that we’ve always done. We’re going to find out what funding’s available and we’re going to look at the streets and try to pick the worst ones.”

He said what he wants to do is have a balanced approach. “But that’s going to depend on funding.”

Chalker said he wouldn’t have a recommendation until he sees what is available in the upcoming fiscal year budget. “Once I see that, we can take a look at the streets and really look at the scores and try to see how we can invest.”

Money would be allocated to the worst streets, he said. “If we come up with a little bit extra that doesn’t fit a street, then we’ll take it and do one of these other treatments and use it on a street that’s not as bad.”

Overall, Chalker said the survey was “a whole lot better than what I thought it was going to be. There’s some communities that scored worse than us that have even better budgets than us.” Chalker said, however, “Our budget is always tight, so we just take the money that we’re given and stretch it as far as we can go.”

He said the recent repairs on Seventh Street near the high school raise the city’s score. “I was pleasantly surprised. We’ve taken the funds we’ve been given and we’ve stretched it.”

Vlad Mitchev, the company’s director of pavement operations, told the council via Zoom that it surveyed the 91.03 miles of streets the city has in its inventory. The majority of streets in the city — 85.27 miles — are asphalt. There are 4.09 miles of concrete streets and 1.67 miles of unpaved streets in the city.

The firm gave the city a pavement condition index of 72, placing it in line with the city of Matthews, which has 101 centerline miles, and above Mount Airy, which has 73 centerline miles and was given a 71 PCI. Fuquay-Varina was rated the highest in the survey with an 85 PCI on its 154 centerline miles, while Morrisville received an 82 PCI with 60 centerline miles.

Funding for the study was taken from the city’s Powell Bill funds, City Manager Kelly Traynham said.

The study noted that Seventh Street near the Roanoke Rapids High School football field was in very good condition with a PCI of 100. Jesslyns Drive received a 92 PCI. Jefferson Street was rated in good condition with a PCI of 81, and Murphrey Street received an 89 PCI.

Another portion of Seventh Street was rated in fair condition with a 67 PCI, and Gregory Drive was rated as fair with a 72 PCI. Henry Street was rated in poor condition with a PCI of 49, and Williams Street was in that category with a 51 PCI.

The study places the total replacement value of asphalt streets in the city at $77.9 million with a current asset value of $55.3 million.

The study recommends a multi-pronged approach to maintaining the city’s streets, which includes budgeting approximately $1.3 million per year — $15,000 per centerline mile — for roadway maintenance. It also recommends conducting pavement condition surveys every two to three years and a repair strategy utilizing a full repair toolbox that emphasizes lifecycle modeling and integration with other city assets.

The survey tracked seven common surface distresses, including fatigue cracking, patching/potholes, and surface defects. Based on the results, repair needs are categorized as follows:

Preservation corrective — 62.9 percent of miles: Includes thin-lift treatments like microsurfacing for streets in fair condition.

Rehabilitation — 19.4 percent of miles: Targeted for streets in poor condition, primarily involving mill and overlay.

No repair needed — 7.3 percent of miles: Streets currently in good enough condition to require no immediate action.

Preservation Preventive — 1.8 percent of miles: Low-cost treatments like asphalt rejuvenation to extend the life of streets in good condition.