Report shows improvement in road conditions since 2020 millage approved

GROSSE POINTE FARMS — Grosse Pointe Farms officials got a look at what their original, voter-approved 2-mill road levy in 2020 has meant for the city, and what its renewal in November would mean for local road conditions, during a City Council meeting Oct. 14.

“We’ve made some really good progress,” City Manager Shane Reeside said of work accomplished since 2020. “This is a ballot issue for the November election for renewal. … This is a renewal, so it’s not additional tax dollars.”

The current millage expires with the winter tax collection in December. Officials are asking voters to renew the 2 mills for another five years.

Eddie Zmich, one of the city’s engineers with Hubbell, Roth & Clark Inc., said that the focus of the road millage had initially been restoration of main arteries through the Farms, but they now hope to focus dollars on more local roads.

“Since (2020), there has been a substantial amount of work done in the city,” Zmich told the council.

That’s in spite of material and labor costs that have risen sharply in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic appeared in the U.S. in 2020.

Roads repaired in whole or in part since 2020 include Kercheval Avenue and Kerby, Ridge and Fisher roads. This year, Chalfonte Avenue and Calvin Road were among the streets where work was done. Zmich said crews will continue to do roadwork, weather-permitting, this fall.

Streets are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 10 using the PASER rating system, with good meaning a rating of 8 to 10, fair meaning a rating of 5 to 7, and poor meaning a rating of 1 to 4. PASER stands for Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating.

Zmich said a road at a 10 would be a new road.

“If you’re at a (PASER rating of) No. 1, that’s a complete reconstruction,” Zmich said.

When the millage was approved in 2020, Zmich said, the average PASER rating of roads in the Farms was 3.6. Now, he said it’s 4.2. If the millage is renewed, engineers estimate the average road rating in five years will increase to 5.

Zmich likened roadwork to car maintenance. Keeping up with it and making smaller repairs on a routine basis staves off more major and expensive fixes down the line.

Zmich said they want to do that road maintenance “to make the roads last longer.”

“More work still needs to be done,” Zmich said. “More roads are going to deteriorate” in the coming years.

The PASER ratings are one of the primary factors officials take into account when deciding which roads to work on next, although other considerations also come into play, including the cost of repair and how much money is available in a given year.

The city’s roads are rated every three years, with the most recent study being conducted in 2022. The condition of the city’s roads will be reevaluated next year.

“We’ll go out in the spring and recalibrate all of your ratings,” Zmich said.

City Councilman Lev Wood is among the officials who hopes voters will approve the millage renewal this fall.

“The message to voters is … this five-year (road) program that we’ve had has been successful. … Safety has been another benefit,” Wood said.

The millage would generate an estimated $2,069,200 in the first year — the December 2025 winter tax collection — if approved by voters. Reeside said the renewal wouldn’t overlap with the existing millage, as the renewal wouldn’t take effect until next year.

If approved by voters, the millage is expected to raise nearly $11 million for roadwork between 2025 and 2029.

Absentee voting was underway at press time. Early voting in the Farms starts Oct. 26 and will take place at Farms City Hall.

As of Oct. 15, Zmich’s PowerPoint road presentation was posted on the city website, grossepointefarms.org.