A year from now Oyster Harbors will have 'old looking' (not shiny) brand new roads built to last, says OHPOA President Bill O'Keeffe.

Oyster Harbors Roadway Rehabilitation Project

Evaluation

The evaluation portion of the project involved gathering information, analyzing data to determine the latent conditions on the island, and developing conclusions from which appropriate recommendations can be made. Color & Colantonio, Inc. identified the wetland areas, densified aerial mapping, prepared a general characterization of roadway surface conditioins, located areas of concern, and compiled detailed photographs fir each roadway on the island. Locations for subsurface exploration were mapped out based on surface observations. Pavement cores and test pits were conducted to determine the pavement thickness and subsurface conditions. Washed sieve analyses were performed on samples collected during the pavement cores to determine the soil composition of the roadway base.

Field investigations indicated that the conditions of the roadways on the island were generally in poor condition. The riding surface was determined to be rough and puddling was a common problem. Pavement deficiencies found included various types of cracking, potholes, weathering, and rutting. Primary causes for many of these types of deficiencies were an insufficient pavement section, poor drainage, poor sub-base materials, and lack of maintenance. The pavement cores indicated that the roadways on the island typically had a think layer of pavement, approximately 1.5" thick over an approximate 3.5" sandy macadam base course a sandy sub-base. This pavement section was determined to be substandard and unable able to support the weight of the vehicular traffic present on the island today. Poor surface runoff conditions contributed to the problems with pavement deterioration.

Based on the subsurface exploration, Coler & Colantonio, Inc. was able to identify problem areas where more extensive work would be required to alleviate drainage deficiencies and stabilize the roadway sub-base. Subsurface exploration in these areas identified groundwater about 2 feet to 3 feet below the surface of the pavement and poor soil conditions that included organic materials. Typical photograps of the pavement cores and test pits are attached at the end of this summary.

Coler & Colantonio, Inc. rated the roadways on the island using a system that is employed by several Commonwealth communities for the evaluation of roadways. Roadways are categorized based on the types of deficiencies observed and the extent of the roadway that is impacted. The conditions are rated on a scale ranging from excellent, meaning no work is needed, to poor, which generally indictes that total reconstruction is necessary. This information can be used to develop an improvement program that is cost effective. The roadways on the island are generally classified in the range of fair to poor. The attached Figure 4 proives a a map of the island that denotes the roadway conditions on the island color coded from Good to Poor.

The attached Figure 9 from the report illustrates the Pavement Life Cycle. This diagram demonstrates that during the first 75% of the pavement live, there will be a 40% drop in the quality of surface conditions. If no mainenance is performed, the pavement will exhibit an additional 40% drop in quality in only 12% of the time as it approaches total failure. For each $1.00 of renovation cost that is spent while the pavement is in fair condition, it will cost $4.00 to $5.00 if the treatement is delayed until the pavement is in poor condition near total failure.