$450K paves the way

Nevada City will be accelerating its Measure S paving program this summer.

Work starts on June 10 with a section of Union Street, the first of repairs and improvements on 21 city streets, Public Works Department officials said Thursday.

The city expects to spend around $450,000 this summer on the projects that include repaving and other needed maintenance, Public Works Director Verne Taylor said.

"We're trying to pave as many as we can so people can see their tax dollars working," Taylor added.

The paving season kicks off when crews from Teichert Construction, in Roseville, begin working on the stretch of Union Street from Main to Broad, which fronts the new Tintle buildings and Robinson Plaza.

This project was bumped to the top of the list so work could be completed before the Father's Day bike race in Nevada City June 15. The schedule for the other streets has not been finalized.

A drop in the price of asphalt - from $100 to $83 a ton - is stretching what the city can do this summer, according to City Engineer Bill Falconi.

"We're getting 15 percent better prices than last year," he said of the essential materials for the paving program.

Measure S, which two-thirds of voters approved in November 2006, allows the city to collect a half-cent sales tax for the paving program. The measure is expected to raise $7 million over 16 years to repave every city-maintained street in the community.

In 2007, the first year Measure S funds were used for road repairs, the city spent $366,000 on 12 streets.

The city launched the paving program a year earlier with repairs on Boulder, Adams and Nevada streets. Measure S funds were not used for those projects, Taylor said.

So far this year, the city is collecting about $50,000 a month as a result of Measure S. But officials want to maintain a cushion between what they spend and collect in case sales tax revenue declines later this year, which is why it is budgeting $450,000 for paving.

The city has hand-delivered notices to every home on the streets where work will be done this summer, Taylor and Falconi said. The goal is to have all major construction work completed by the end of July. Other work, which should only marginally inconvenience residents, will continue throughout the summer, Taylor said.

To contact Staff Writer Pat Butler, e-mail pbutler@theunion.com or call 477-4239.