The road to success is paved with…
1. good intentions
2. failure
3. hard work
4. all the above
For Bainbridge Island, the correct answer is 4.
The BI City Council learned about the island’s deteriorating road system (failure) Sept. 10, despite spending twice as much money (good intentions) to preserve them in recent years.
The council was told it should be spending more—$2.55 million annually, and it will need to find out a way to do that (hard work).
For Mayor Joe Deets, the amount was “sticker shock on my part” for the same amount of roads. “We do need to increase our funding for roads, but where are we going to get it?” He said providing good roads is basic for government. “That’s what people expect us to do,” he said, adding well-maintained roads save money over the long run. He said BI’s sales tax is less than nearby Poulsbo’s so that might be a good option.
City manager Blair King said, “I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t tell you that you need to pay now or pay more later.” For example, the city is replacing part of Country Club Road, and it’s costing millions of dollars. He can’t say for sure that wouldn’t have happened with better maintenance, but it’s possible.
He brought up the ferry system as another example. Maintenance wasn’t kept upt, and now people are paying for it. “The same could be said for streets here,” he said. “I’m concerned about maintenance. More road reconstruction is coming your way.”
Councilmember Kirsten Hytopoulos said road maintenance is a challenge because BI is like a county in size and terrain variation, but it only has the money coming from a city to take care of it. She agreed with Deets in saying, “Folks expect road maintenance before going on to other things.”
Councilmember Ashley Mathews referred to a complaint made during public comments when they were told the city does not cut back trees that hang over roads. The commenter said he has to drive in the middle of the road to avoid damaging his vehicle. Mathews was told by city staff that’s part of maintenance funding.
Councilmember Jon Quitslund said he was “skeptical in some ways” of spending more money on roads because of competing needs.
A report introducing the topic says the city takes care of 287 miles of roads, which includes paving, patching, pothole repair, sweeping, shoulder and gravel road grading, and vegetation control. Historically, $500,000 a year was spent, but that was increased to $1 million. The council was told preserving good roads can be 10 times cheaper than reconstructing failed roads. It looked at treatment examples and costs including: Chip seal, slurry seal, fog seal, cape seal and micro surfacing.
The council discussed prioritizing road projects and potential new funding. Strategies to raise more money include: a street levy, Transporation Benefit District increase or Local Improvement Districts. The council agreed to keep discussing the issue to try to find a solution.
