The in basket: Jim De Lorm wrote in mid-July, “I just received a notice that the county is going to pave the cul-de-sac where I live on Friday, July 22.” It’s Fircrest Place SE, just off Fircrest Drive in South Kitsap.
“Believe me, this cul-de-sac is in perfect shape. What a waste of money. I would think the money could be put to better use some place else.”
I guessed that it might be another of the county’s pervious pavement test sites and asked if I was close.
The out basket: No, says Don Schultz, county road superintendent, it’s just regular maintenance.
“While your reader believes Fircrest Place SE is in perfect shape, our pavement management system rates the road in poor condition,” Don said.
“Roads in Kitsap County are periodically inspected and assigned a rating score. The overall score considers pavement conditions including alligator cracking, rutting, surface deterioration due to raveling or aging and other factors. The score assigned to a road relates to its relative condition. (Fircrest Place) was last paved in 1974 and has a current surface score of 32.”
On that scale, 89 to 100 is excellent, 67 to 88 is good, 49 to 66 is fair, 21 to 48 is poor and zero to 20 means failed
“Each year road supervisors review road ratings to determine the best way to utilize the limited funds available to preserve the county road system. Based on the rating score and other factors (proximity to other projects, equipment and material availability, the ‘window’ available for this type of maintenance work) they select roads to include on our annual paving schedule (http://www.kitsapgov.com/pw/roadpave.htm).
“Systematic preventive maintenance is usually much more cost effective than waiting until a road fails,” he said. “It’s like the old FRAM oil filter cliché, ‘You can pay me now, or you can pay me later.’ By maintaining roads in the poor category before they fail, and restoring them to good or excellent condition, we keep those roads functional and ensure their use well into the future.”
Uh… have then taken a look at Salmonberry lately? Maybe they need to re-think their evaluation system and take care of the roads that REALLY need attention. Salmonberry is a nightmare.
They need to inspect Hayward Avenue in Mannete next. It is in terrible shape.