2010 Construction Projects

Published by the City of Birmingham Engineering Department as a service to residents and businesses in Birmingham. All dates are subject to change. Please contact the Engineering Division at 248-530-1840, if you have any questions.

Shain Park Streets Paving Project - Contract 1-10(P)

The streets that will be reconstructed as a part of this project include:
• Martin Street – From Chester to Pierce
• Henrietta Street – From Brown to Martin
• Bates Street – From Brown to Martin
• Townsend Street – From Chester to Henrietta

In addition, the access drive to the Chester Street parking structure will be reconstructed. When Martin Street is reconstructed, it will be widened to accommodate two-way traffic, and angled parking along both sides. A net of 44 additional parking spaces will be added to Martin Street, which will help to compensate for the loss of parking in the area when Parking Lot 7 was reconfigured last summer.

Martin Street will be constructed with an asphalt pavement, which will allow us to re-use a large portion of the existing pavement that is still in good condition. All of the other streets will be reconstructed with concrete pavement, as has been standard on the City’s downtown paving projects in recent years.

This project also includes extensive landscaping in front of City Hall, and additional matching streetscape improvements in front of the Baldwin Library. Some of the landscaping improvements in front of City Hall include:
• Installing a terraced granite wall around City Hall
• New granite steps and a granite plaza
• Improvements to the existing granite stairway
• Installation of new trees and other plantings
• Tree uplighting and electrical receptacles for holiday lighting
• Irrigation for the new lawn and plant materials
• A new flag pole in the front of City hall with lighting and a gold eagle finial
• Large torchieres on either side of the front door



George, Ann & Manchester Streets Paving Project - Contract 2-10(P)

The streets that will be rehabilitated as a part of this project include:
• George Street – From Pierce to South Old Woodward
• Ann Street – From Frank north to end, and from Lincoln to Landon
• Manchester Street – From Eton to Coolidge

George Street will be completely reconstructed, with new curbs, stone base, and asphalt pavement. In addition, the sewers and water main along this street will be reconstructed. The eastern block of Manchester between St. Andrews and Coolidge will have the existing asphalt surface milled off of the existing concrete underlay pavement, and be resurfaced with a new asphalt pavement. The western two blocks of Manchester between Eton and St. Andrews will have the existing asphalt pavement pulverized and re-graded, and will have a new asphalt pavement installed. The south block of Ann Street between Lincoln and Landon will have the broken sections of the concrete pavement removed and replaced. In addition, the existing parking along the east side of the street will be removed and changed to greenbelt with sod and street trees installed.

The north block of Ann Street from Frank north to the end of the street will have new curbs and drive approaches added to the north end of the block, along with a new capeseal surface as a part of a Special Assessment District. There will be some areas with additional greenbelt where topsoil and sod will be added behind the curb. The water main on this block will also be replaced.

Sidewalk and Concrete Repairs Project - Contract 5-10(SW)

This year’s sidewalk replacement program focuses on Area 8 (north of Maple Rd. and east of Adams) and the west half of the Central Business District. There is also a need to have scattered concrete work accomplished this year as soon as possible where utility repairs and taps have damaged City streets and sidewalks. Also, sections of concrete streets, alleys, and curb and gutter that need replacement will also be addressed.

Pavement Maintenance Project - Contract 7-10(P)

The term “Asset Management” has become a commonly used term with government agencies for the past several years when refering to maintaining public infrastructure, including streets, sewers and water systems. The relatively recent decline in revenues has helped fuel interest in this direction.

The City of Birmingham is currently responsible for fully maintaining about 45 miles of public streets, not including those that are considered unimproved (chip sealed). As the roads continue to age, and funding sources become less stable, it is important for the City to develop a preventative maintenance strategy. Over the past ten years, the road industry has standardized the method for rating road conditions, using a ten point scale, which can be broken down into the following summary:
RATING
1 to 4 Pavement is nearing the end of its service life; complete reconstruction required.
5 to 7 Pavement is structural sound; sealing or thin overlay will extend life.
8 to 10 Pavement is relatively new; no action required.

With the above Pavement Maintenance Program, the City will begin taking positive steps to divert some of its road funds to those streets in the middle, “5 to 7” category, wherein a small amount of investment now will pay off in extended service life. This theory is exemplified in the attached pavement deterioration curves. The scale on the left refers to the 1 to 10 pavement rating scale noted above. While a typical pavement can be expected to be in need of repair roughly 20 to 25 years after installation, with a preventative maintenance treatment, the service life can be extended over 7 years, using the expected improvement noted on the second curve.

Using the above strategy, the current budget has set aside $400,000 in the current budget to be used on pavement preventative maintenance. Assuming this strategy is successful, we hope to have similar amounts spent in future years to result in an improved and less costly road network. Since 2010 is the first year, and since the major streets tend to have the greatest demands on them, the higher traffic streets were prioritized for this first year project. As the busiest streets are addressed at the beginning, lower traffic streets will be treated in the future. Other factors that were considered in selecting appropriate streets included:

1. Pavements that are five to twenty years old.
2. Pavements that are showing some signs of distress, but are structurally sound (at least for 90% of the surface area).
3. Pavements are not over water and sewer systems that are planned for significant upgrading in the future.

With the above factors in mind, there are several maintenance strategies that can be employed in the maintenance of asphalt pavements. After reviewing many possible opportunities, some of which may make sense in future projects, we thought it would be best to limit the types of maintenance to two main types, thereby simplifying the projects, and hopefully allowing for more efficiency on the part of the contractor. First, all pavements will have existing cracks over ¼” in width sealed with crack sealer. Once the cracks have been sealed, two different strategies will be applied, based on the current condition of the streets:

Single Layer Cape Sealing

Similar to the process used to renew our unimproved roads, an asphalt emulsion will be placed from a truck mounted dispenser, followed by small stone chips. The road will be left in this state for an average of three days (depending on weather conditions), followed by another layer of emulsion to seal in the new stone layer.

The Cape Sealing process was selected for its low cost on those streets that are still in very good condition, and would benefit by a simple waterproofing layer.

Ultra-Thin Hot Mix Asphalt Overlay

The Ultra-Thin overlay process results in adding a ¾ inch layer of asphalt on top of the existing asphalt surface. Preparatory work will include the crack sealing (mentioned above), as well as milling along the outside edges of each street, and at each manhole structure. Milling will help maintain existing curb heights, and avoid the cost of adjusting manhole structures. A small amount of deeper base repairs will also occur where localized road base failures have occurred.

The Ultra-Thin Overlay process was selected on those streets that have deteriorated further, and need additional structural integrity at this time to help arrest further deterioration.

The following street segments were selected for this year’s program (also shown on this map). Most of these streets fall under the Major Street Fund category, to help reduce deterioration on those streets that carry larger traffic loads. Consideration was also given to having the work grouped somewhat closer together, to simplify contractor coordination between the various locations:

Single Layer Cape Sealing

S. Bates St. – W. Brown St. to W. Lincoln Ave.
Brown St. – Chester St. to S. Old Woodward Ave.
N. Eton Rd. – Yorkshire Rd. to E. Maple Rd.
E. Lincoln Ave. – S. Adams Rd. to S. Eton Rd.
W. Merrill St. – Henrietta St. to Pierce St.

Ultra-Thin Hot Mix Asphalt Overlay

N. Adams Rd. – CN Railroad Bridge to Madison Ave.
W. Maple Rd. – Southfield Rd. to Pierce St.
Oakland Ave. – Woodward Ave. to N. Worth St.
Pierce St. – Brown St. to Lincoln Ave.
Poppleton Ave. – Oakland Ave. to Knox Ave.

TRAFFIC CONTROL REQUIREMENTS

On the high traffic routes within the project (Maple Rd., Adams Rd., Brown St., and Lincoln Ave.), maintaining traffic will be critical. Parking will not be allowed during construction, and two-way traffic will be maintained while the opposite half of the road is closed for construction. In the case of Brown St., one lane of westbound traffic will be maintained at all times, while eastbound traffic will be closed. The other, lower volume streets will be closed to through traffic during construction.

Due to the simple nature of the work involved, we expect that all streets shall be returned to normal operation within 5 calendar days after preparatory work begins. Should the contractor take longer than 5 days on any one street, a $500 per day penalty will apply.