87% of Bay City Roads Considered “Poor” in Recent Engineering Study

New reports on the quality of Bay City roads show many are still in need of repair or replacement.

A presentation by officials from Wade-Trim Civil Engineers shows approximately 87% of bay city roads are considered “poor”- suffering from deep cracks or structural integrity failure.

The group had been hired to survey the roads, as required by the State Transportation Asset Management Plan (or TAMP), in order to understand the condition of roads through the city, as well as what repairs would be needed and what order they should be repaired in.

Brian Frisk, an Engineer with Wade-Trim, says the City should use the study and proposed repair process to develop an updated road replacement and repair plan, which could save taxpayer funds and travel headaches in the future by repairing issues as they happen instead of deteriorating and becoming more costly.

Following the presentation; 8th ward Commissioner, Ed Clements, said he believes the city should be utilizing the 22% fund balance it has available to remedy the road issue, instead of saving while roads crumble.

Of the 183.4 miles of roadway studied, only 24 scored a 5 out of 10 or higher rating on the state-recognized Pavement Surface Evaluation Rating scale.

Only 1% of the roads in the entire city were new enough or maintained well enough to be considered in “good” condition.