Oakwood is about to gear up its road maintenance program this year after the economic downturn delayed it in 2009.
City officials presented the 2010-15 program to City Council Monday night, with annual funding expected to hit about $200,000 per year with money coming from special purpose local option sales taxes.
“We are working hard to get a good systematic program in place,” City Manager Stan Brown said. “I think if we stay the course with this, we’ll continue to keep our roads in good condition.”
The city is looking at maintenance work this year on sections of Academy Street, Mundy Mill Drive, Shawnee Drive, Plainview Road, Pointer Court, Candlestick Lane, McEver Road and Railroad Street.
City officials also are looking at ways to fix Old Oakwood Road, which could cost about $500,000.
“We will look to designate project funding through (Georgia Department of Transportation) grants, general funds or capital projects, to get this road done right,” said Jason Spencer, the city’s public works director.
The city developed the list after doing an in-depth study of its estimated 40 miles of road and grading them on a 1-100 scale.
Officials judged that 74 percent of the city’s roads were very good while about 2 percent were very poor.
Brown said the city considers transportation a key part of its Vision 2030 master plan, a set of designs that show conceptually how the city — particularly older portions around the downtown area — might look by that year.
“It’s great to plan for all these new things, but it isn’t worth a flip if we don’t take care of what we’ve got, and that’s what this pavement management program is all about,” he said.
Council members spoke favorably of the efforts, saying they hope city officials would key in on improvements to Old Oakwood Road and McClure Drive.
Councilman Montie Robinson said he believes the city’s upkeep of roads has been strong overall in recent years.
“The streets are in better shape than they have ever been,” the longtime councilman said.
In other business, the council approved proclamations recognizing April 18-24 as Georgia Cities Week and April 17 as YMCA Healthy Kids Day.