Road Condition Evaluation
A survey was conducted on the Primary and Arterial Roads in HB, HBW and HBS. They were rated and the obvious needs noted.
This was a windshield survey and evaluations are based solely on the apparent conditions observed without doing any physical test. It was performed without any prior knowledge of the construction and maintenance history of the individual Roads. The scope of this survey was to identify the major problems areas.
The HSB seal coat history and proposed schedules were reviewed. An interview with Daryl Hinds was very helpful in getting an understanding of the history, maintenance policies and procedures in HSB for the past 18 years.
Most of the Roads were rated as good for rural subdivisions. The definition of good is very relative. It was assumed that the best roads seen in HSB were good. Most of the roads had some base failures or problems which needed to be cut and patched. The spreadsheets in the report show the average ratings for each road based on the Road Data Sheets.
Road Condition Ratings
The Ride quality was good on nearly all of the roads. Pavement irregularities, bumps, utility cuts, low water valves, patches etc. hurt the ride rating on some of them.
The Surfaces were rated good for 90% of the Roads.
The Base was rated good on most Roads. The Roads have held their cross-section. The Roads have crown. Some roads got a fair rating. The many base failures found suggested that the old base was probably only fair and it had been kept well sealed.
Edges were good on about 75% of the roads. There were some maintenance needs, but nothing major.
Curbs were noted only on a few roads. No major problems were noted.
Grass encroachment in the pavement was insignificant.
Drainage problems were insignificant. The low water crossings had some bad bumps in the asphalt that were objectionable.
Utility Cuts are numerous and some were not finished flush with the pavement.
Areas of Need in Survey
Crack Sealing was needed on several roads.
Cut and Patch requirements were the major problem. There were areas needing full depth repair on about 90% of the Roads. Bad places may have been seal coated over in past years which might explain good surface ratings on roads with numerous cut and patch needs. These needs were probably several years old.
Seal Coat needs were only noted in a few places.
Rebuild needs were noted on some roads mainly in HBW. These sections had base failures greater than 100 feet long and involving most of the road width.
The overall goal should be to raise all Primary and Arterial Roads to a Good rating in all categories. Continued maintenance of the good roads with additional focus on upgrading the fair roads will be necessary to achieve this goal.
Eliminating the base failures should be a top priority before the roads with base failures are sealed again. This will be at a considerable cost. Roads with Cut and Patch and Rebuild needs should have all failure areas located and marked with paint, measured for square yards of work and estimates made to determine the cost of the repair work. If the bad areas are extensive, rebuilding the road is more practical. A good estimate is required to determine the needed course of action and the funding required. These problems are rated top priority because they are growing on their own if not repaired. If the base failures were eliminated, seal coating would keep the roads in good condition.
The extensive use of asphalt for repair of base failure areas is something that should be questioned. It is our opinion that HSB should be using base material for repairs for repairs. Heavy asphalt use on roads with base problems is treating the symptom and not the cause. Base material should be used for most of the depth in large patches and only the top inch or so should be asphalt. Most of the cut and patch areas found in this report should be done with base material topped with asphalt.
Eliminating bumpy utility cuts, adjusting water valves, and other bumps are a secondary priority certainly before the road is sealed again. The work is mostly cut and patch type repair and eliminating these problems along with the base failures would really improve the road ratings.
Control of future utility cuts should be a high priority. HSB should require Utility Cut Permits on all future cuttings of the pavement. This would assure the quality of the repair and provide the funds to do it. Utility cuts are a problem everywhere that does not use a permit system. A fee based on the cost per foot to properly repair the cut should be charged rather than a flat fee. All cuts should be done by HSB's contractor to assure good quality repairs. Violators of the policy should be held accountable.
The seal coat needs should be closely examined. The surface ratings were consistently good. A closer check of the planned seal coat list should be made just to verify that those sections really need sealing this year. Any savings could be diverted into repairing the other pavement defects.
In the maintenance of the road system, emphasis should be placed on repairing the entire road at once instead of small sections or only the worst places here and there. The roads will never get in good condition from end to end doing only badly needed repairs.
Spreadsheet with Survey Ratings
Horseshoe Bay West CONDITIONS OBSERVED ACTION NEEDED Street Name R
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D
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R
F.B
A
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D
G
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SC
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BG
R
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S
SD
R
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SCracks Cut & Patch Seal Coat Rebuild APACHE TEARS *1 G- G G F S BAY WEST BLVD *2 G G F- G S M S S BROKEN HILLS G G G G- 1 S CAT CANYON *3 G G G S CAT'S EYE G G G G DESERT ROSE *4 F F G S S S DOUGLAS G G G F F 1 S S S FAULTLINE *5 G G G F S S HI FAULT G G G F F 1 S MOUNTAIN LEATHER *6 G G G F S S SUN RAY *7 G G F F S S Key G = Good: F = Fair; P = Poor S = Some; M = Much Utility Cuts Number represents noticeable rough U Cuts (Approx.)
Notes * 1 - Good Road 2 - Big Rocks No Sight Distance, 600' Rebuild, Good Road 3 - Need Stop Sign at Tungsten 4 - Dangerous Crossover 5 - 350' of Rebuild 6 - 200' of Rebuild 7 - 200' of Rebuild
Horseshoe Bay CONDITIONS OBSERVED ACTION NEEDED Street Name R
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SCracks Cut & Patch Seal Coat Rebuild BIG SPUR *8 G F G G 1 S BROKEN ARROW *9 G F F G S CAPE ISLAND *10 G G G 1 CLAYTON NOLEN G G G F S S HI CIRCLE N *11 G G G F S HI CIRCLE S G G G F G 5 S S HI CIRCLE W *12 F F F 7 S HI MESA *13 G G F S S S HI STIRRUP F G G 4 M S S HORSESHOE BAY BLVD *14 F G G 3 S S PAWNEE G G G G S QUICKDRAW *15 G G G G 4 S RED SAILS G G G F 2 S SOMBRERO G F G 3 S TAIL WIND G G G F WESTERN BIT G G G F 2 Key G = Good: F = Fair; P = Poor S = Some; M = Much Utility Cuts Number represents noticeable rough U Cuts (Approx.)
Notes * 8 - Photos Settlement @ 304 9 - Long Base Failure Photos 10 - Overlaid sections, Util. Cut Poor 11 - Photo @809 12 - Photo Base Failure @Tee Off 13 Good Road A Standard for All Major Roads 14 Needs Seal Coat @ Buff & Baypoint 15 Good Road
Horseshoe Bay South CONDITIONS OBSERVED ACTION NEEDED Street Name R
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SCracks Cut & Patch Seal Coat Rebuild BOWIE KNIFE G F G G BUNTLINE SPECIAL G G F F F S S BUZZARD ROOST G G G F S COLONNEH *16 F G G G F S CROOKED RUN G F G S DOE F F F F DOE G G G F FOX FOOT F F G F S S S GAZELLE G G G G GREAT WESTERN F F F F HI RIDGE (Mtn D to Cul) F G G G 1 S S HI RIDGE (Mtn D to end) G G G F 1 S S LOST CREEK G G G G S MOUNTAIN DEW (Cir) G G G F S MOUNTAIN DEW GW-OY *17 F F F F F 8 S M M OUT YONDER G G G G PRONGHORN G F G F S S STAG G G G F 1 S STAGECOACH G F G F THANKSGIVING MTN F G G F S Key G = Good: F = Fair; P = Poor S = Some; M = Much Utility Cuts Number represents noticeable rough U Cuts (Approx.)
Notes * 16 - Some Hot Mix Overlay Sections 17 - Good @ Pinkerton Loop, U Cuts not bad, Low Water Crossing Bad Bump, Some Overlay Sections Questions and Comments
Current Maintenance Level
It was requested that an opinion be given about the adequacy of the current maintenance program. The diligent effort being made on the major roads is keeping the surfaces pretty good, but HSB is far behind on patching base failures and fixing utility cut problems. If the patching and rebuild backlog could be eliminated, the current seal coat program would be adequate to keep these roads in good condition. Some estimates will be required to even know how big the problem is. Some of the cut and patch areas may turn out to be rebuilds. The budget in future years is dependent upon getting the major defects eliminated now so that only routine maintenance is involved instead of maintenance and major repair.
Since this survey only included the major Roads in HB it only is part of the overall Road picture. From what was observed out the side windows - the minor Roads are in worse condition than the major Roads. The total needs of HSB will have to be estimated by some assumptions of their condition and miles of road.
The present HSB frequencies of the seal coating are fine for the roads in this study. The greater than 10 year frequency for seal coating the other roads is doubtful, especially if the base is not crushed stone. An annual inspection to determine seal coat lists is the way it should be done. The set frequencies are just a guide and a good budgeting tool.
Future Costs
A projected funding requirement was also requested. Answers are wanted about 5, 10, 15 and 20 years in the future. There are no good simple answers. Trend assessment is the only way to estimate the future costs. HSB is behind now on major repairs with the current level of maintenance. Unless some major effort is made to get caught up, things will not get better. It is safe to assume that with the existing roads that the needs are going to increase and at some point they will have to be rebuilt.
Without detailed estimates over several years it is difficult to say if the problems are staying about the same or getting worse. Most places can't produce enough documentation to show that the problems are less or more as years go by. Recurring estimates of needs is about the only way to determine this. The following method will work for just about anything that requires ongoing maintenance.
A good way to develop a trend for the annual maintenance needs is to estimate the Backlog of Essential Maintenance. This estimate must not include any major enhancements or additions - just essential maintenance needed right now. When all roads involved are estimated, the current need is known.
Regardless of the plan or program to get the work done, some work will be deferred to another year because of budget limitations. This deferred work is called the "Backlog of Essential Maintenance".
Each year or two, the Backlog of Essential Maintenance is updated. After several years if the backlog is increasing at an alarming rate - not enough maintenance and repair work is being done. If the Backlog starts getting smaller, the maintenance program is working. Even if square yards, miles, etc. is used instead of dollars, this method will still show what the backlog is doing. It can even be done on just one road or type of problem such as patching or seal coat. This method gives some real numbers which can be helpful making decisions about the proposed budgets.
Major Improvement Projects
The provided HSB Memorandum explained that there is some interest in bringing the roads up to very high quality. Newer resort communities have "first class" roads.
The present roads are considered good county roads. Most of these roads cannot be made "first class" by just putting on some more pavement. Replacing them with new, high quality roads is a way to make HSB more attractive and reduce the annual pavement maintenance needs. When the estimates are made about the road rebuilding needs, it would be a good time to set the standard to which rebuild is going to be done. HSB should start building them to the new standard instead of rebuilding them as county type roads.
Ribbon curbs are recommended only with new hot mix pavements. They provide a good edge and support for the pavement. Putting new ribbon curb on existing roads is not practical.
A popular major improvement is hot mix overlay. Type D hot mix is often used. This would make the roads look nicer, but they still might not be considered "first class" by some people. Hot mix should only be placed where the roads are free of base failures or the base failures will continue to be a problem.
Agreement on the quality of the new roads is the first step. Looking at what others are building is good way to get some desirable types. Estimates for the types of road can be made based on recent contract prices adjusted for inflation. Several alternatives should be estimated. The commitment to the concept should be next when the estimates provide the magnitude of the costs. Decisions can then be made about the engineering, funding, and construction schedule.
K.C. Engineering-Marble Falls will be glad to discuss the process of upgrading the HSB road system.
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