Santa Clarita Road Rehab Program

Santa Clarita spans 64 square miles which translates to an abundance of streets and roads—and maintenance. In fact, the City’s Road Rehab overlay and slurry seal program is responsible for over 516 miles of major and minor streets. The residents of Santa Clarita depend heavily on these roads to live their daily lives. Poorly maintained roads constrain mobility, increase chances of accidents, and significantly raise vehicle operating costs. When kept pristine, roads make a contribution to the growth of a community and provide many social benefits. According to the 2014 City of Santa Clarita Survey results, nearly 80% of Santa Clarita residents believed the City’s efforts were “right on track,” partially because the “City stays within budget” and “improves roads.” In fact 16% of the reason why residents were satisfied with City services is because of the improved roads. Although happy with the positive survey results, the City’s Public Works division remained vigorous in finding ways to be more cost-effective and to provide greater public benefits with a limited project budget. The City also saw the need for better communication with residents about road improvement schedules and projects. For years, the City has been using a Road Rehab program based on the Metropolitan Transportation Committee’s StreetSaver® multi-year pavement management program. This management program helps City staff identify and quantify pavement conditions to make informed and timely decisions about necessary maintenance that will prevent problems and preserve pavement economically for the City’s many streets and roads. And every summer, road resurfacing begins on Santa Clarita neighborhoods with a street hierarchy, a plan used to organize streets into evaluation zones. This street selection process is also what is used to develop a five-year-plan which plays a critical role in planning of future development and utility work/repairs. The City also saves resources and time by grouping streets with similar pavement conditions into the same construction zones. This prevents city crew and contractors from scattering resources across the City and thus, saves mobilization costs during construction. With over 225,000 residents living in Santa Clarita, City staff also faced challenges with communication regarding the nearly 100 miles of roadway repaved annually to a diverse audience that was constantly growing. Until recently, the only notification that affected residents received before the road rehab began on their street, were two handbills as well as “No Parking” signs posted 24 hours before construction started. The downside of using printed materials was difficulty in communicating last minute changes to the schedule, which happens often during construction. As a result, residents would report complaints and confusion. In some cases residents who were unaware of the project process would damage newly-done projects by driving over the surface of unfinished pa