Item A: Joint Meeting with EWEB Board

Home Browse Search

ATTACHMENT C Public Works Administration City of Eugene 858 Pearl Street M Eugene, Oregon 97401 EMORANDUM (541) 682-5241 (541) 682-6826 FAX www.eugene-or.gov Date: November 19, 2008 To: Mayor and City Council EWEB Board of Commissioners From: Kurt Corey, Public Works Director Subject: Importance of Coordinating Utility Work on Road Repair Projects On November 4, the citizens of Eugene passed Measure 20-145, Bonds to Fix Streets. This measure provides $35.9 million to pave 32 streets in Eugene over the next five years. This is in addition to approximately $5 million annually from the local gas tax and other sources dedicated to pavement preservation projects. The City also has several projects to upgrade unimproved streets urban standards. And, there is an accelerated street surface maintenance effort funded through increased funding for pothole repairs, including some maintenance overlays. All this adds up to a tremendous amount of road construction over the next five years that will require coordination with all underground utility owners. At the same time, we recognize and applaud EWEB’s program to upgrade its water and electrical systems to provide long-term, trouble-free service to its customers. The City of Eugene Public Works staff meets regularly with EWEB staff to coordinate pavement preservation and water line and electrical service projects. A good example is the partnership that recently allowed EWEB to upgrade its water lines on Roosevelt Boulevard before the City made significant overlay repairs. This type of coordination maximizes the public investment in road repairs by avoiding utility cuts in recently paved streets. Continuing this strong collaboration will be critical to assure that underground utility work is completed in advance of pavement preservation projects. We look forward to working with EWEB on paving schedules that meet your utility needs while continuing to move ahead on the pavement repairs that Eugene voters have strongly endorsed. City Engineer Mark Schoening (682-5243, mark.a.schoening@ci.eugene.or.us) is overseeing the Pavement Preservation Program, which is managed by Matt Rodrigues in our Engineering Division (682-6036, matt.j.rodrigues@ci.eugene.or.us). They welcome any assistance or suggestions you might have to ensure the highest level of coordination between EWEB and the City.