Audit: City road plowing, patching, paving fall short
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The City of Pittsburgh could do a better job of clearing snow from streets, patching potholes and planning its street resurfacing, Controller Michael Lamb said upon issuing an audit of road maintenance today.
"You have streets that are chronically under-addressed," Mr. Lamb said, as more snow fell outside the window of his City-County Building office. "They need to have a more data-driven process in that [Public Works] Department."
As measured by complaints to the city's 311 help line, snow removal seemed to have gotten worse from the winter of 2006-07 to the 2007-08 season, "implying poorer snow removal," according to the audit. There were 1,568 complaints in the first year, and 2,330 in the second.
Mr. Lamb said said part of the increase could be driven by the popularity of the 311 line.
The highest number of complaints came from the South Hills, but the biggest increase in complaints came from the area stretching from the Hill District to Swisshelm Park.
The audit found that many of the South Hills streets that were the subject of multiple complaints for late snow clearance were not listed on any city plowing routes, suggesting that they were only plowed when a driver got around to them. In that area, 36 of the 109 streets for which multiple complaints were filed weren't listed on plowing routes.
In February, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's administration pledged to redraw snow clearing routes. Part of that effort was focused on checking that all streets were on routes, but it got bogged down by software problems and a key employee's disability claim. Mr. Lamb said it appears to be back on track, though perhaps not complete.
Last year the administration issued a new snow and ice removal plan, focused on the use of smaller vehicles to improve response times. Because the small vehicles can be used by people without commercial driver's licenses, the purchase of the vehicles expands the number of employees the Department of Public Works can use in a storm, according to the report, which says the city can now deploy 84 salt-spreading vehicles of various sizes.
Mr. Lamb said the city appears to have adequate equipment now and should turn its attention to planning and implementation. "Too often, they have a plan, but they don't really execute it," he said.
Another problem, according to Mr. Lamb, is that some salt piles are not protected from the elements, allowing it to wash away or become hard and difficult to spread.
The best way to address potholes, according to the audit, is to dig out a square of asphalt around the hole, clean out debris and water, fill it with patching material, compact it, and seal the edges. City officials have said they use parts of that method, but not all of it, due to a lack of manpower.
"By not using best practices, they are revisiting the same pothole time and time again," he said.
The city's decision-making regarding street resurfacing has been criticized in recent years for subjectivity and political influence. Mr. Lamb found that there is a road condition rating system in place, but often streets that aren't among the worst end up on the resurfacing list.
The audit notes that "many of the streets with less severe condition ratings selected for paving are primary roads," suggesting that the department allows busy streets to jump the line.
Mr. Lamb also recommended that the city set some money aside in case oil prices push up the cost of asphalt. That happened last year, when the city had to slash an ambitious 50-mile paving plan because of surging oil prices.
First Published January 28, 2009 2:05 pm
