Inside Arvada

How Arvada Decides What Roads to Repave

• City of Arvada • Episode 59

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We share a progress update on our goal to repave 75 lane miles of road, more than double what is completed in a typical year. We explain how the pavement management program decides what roads to repave and clear up common misconceptions about surface treatments, warranties, and safety concerns.

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Visit us at arvadaco.gov/podcast or email us at podcast@arvada.org.

Meet Arvada’s Pavement Coordinator

SPEAKER_01

Welcome to Inside Arvada, the official podcast of the City of Arvada. I'm Sean Starr, one of your hosts. In today's episode, we're sharing updates on the city's 2026 paving efforts across the city with pavement coordinator Christine Valentino Biddle. Christine has worked for the city for the past seven years. She started in streets before becoming her current role of pavement management coordinator. And before that, she was on the contractor side of things with her family business in paving for 23 years. And as always, I'm joined by my co-host Katie Patterson. Hi, Katie.

Katie

Hey Sean, and hi Christine. Thanks for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. So just tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do for the city.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. Well, I have called Arvada my home for over 50 years. I got married in Arvada. I had all of my children in Arvada. They grew up in Arvada. And I grew up, obviously, in Arvada. I went to Arvada High School. So yeah. I am one of the pavement management coordinators for the city. And I coordinate and manage the delivery of annual work plans for the pavement management program. I manage contracts and also communicate with the community. One of our big efforts is to make sure that we get as much information out there as far as what we're doing and how we're doing it.

Katie

We wanted to have you on now because it is active construction season. It is. And Sean's our number one complainer.

SPEAKER_01

So it seems like every street in our VAT is getting repaved right now, which I know a little bit of an exaggeration. But I mean, you and your team are extremely busy this year, and that's no accident because we've set a goal to repave what 75 lane miles across the city this year. That's like one of the city's wildly important goals. Give us an update on on where we're at and what do we normally pave in a normal year?

SPEAKER_02

So normally it's about half. Like last year we we paved about 30 to 40 lane miles, which I am happy to say we're over 65 lane miles right now. And so we're about here. It's so cool. We're preparing for the next couple years. So typically we want to get ahead of it. And how we do that is we go and replace any concrete in those proposed areas and curb ramps. We do that because any concrete that is adjacent to the pavement that impacts the integrity of

The 75 Lane-Mile Push

SPEAKER_02

the asphalt. So if any water gets in between it, it just causes alligatoring and cracking. And that is our first proactive approach.

Katie

And we should just clarify. So there's kind of three pieces to the program. So there's the paving work, the asphalt work, which is called mill and overlay, where you grind down the road and then repave a new layer of asphalt on it. And then the concrete work that you're talking about, which is in preparation, it usually happens a year to a couple of years in advance of when you guys come back, depending on the area. And then there's the surface treatments. There's a couple of different types of surface treatments, but crack seal is like the really obvious one, I think, sometimes because it looks like a maintenance thing.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

Katie

Um, to seal cracks. It's like a little bit of tar-looking stuff they put in the road that they put in the crack. But then there's also more hefty seals.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. So that is sometimes mistaken for repaving a road. So what we do is after the road is paved and we give it a few years, then we go back and we crack seal. And then the next step is a slurry or a cape seal, and sometimes a hot chip seal. That is a surface treatment and it's a maintenance to uh make sure that it maintains its longevity.

Katie

So we've done 65 of our lane miles, which is awesome. Um, and I wanted to point out one cool feature this year as you can follow along on our progress now because we have a new dashboard. Tell us a little bit about the dashboard.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. So the dashboard is updated weekly and it shows how many lane miles has been completed for each treatment. So for concrete, mill and overlay, and surface treatments. And then it also has another layer to it that shows how many dollars have gone towards each of those treatments. Yeah.

Katie

So it's that dollar amount's a little delayed, but it's there too. So it looks a little bit like right now at least, I think it's a little bit behind. It is behind. For 65 lane miles, it doesn't have nearly as much spent, which is just because that's how you pay contracts. Yeah. Yeah. It takes a little bit longer. Yeah. As a part of this, Sean mentioned wildly important goal, the city has decided to put some extra resources and extra funding toward the pavement program. So this year the program had an extra $10 million allocated to the program to help do more repaving than in a typical year. So why are we focused on paving and and what's kind of been the impetus of wanting to focus on this?

SPEAKER_02

Unfortunately, our street network is failing dramatically. And so what we're trying to do is to get to sustain the maintenance. If we can continue to put additional funding towards the program, then we will be able to continuously complete 5% of the network with mill and overlay that will get us to that goal of all we will need to do is we won't have to repave and reconstruct streets, that we would just maintain them. So that gives the longevity of the roads 20 to 30 years.

Katie

So this additional funding helps kind of show that we don't have a sustainable additional funding source. Yes. So historically the program has had about $15 million annually allocated to it. This year it's $25 million. Um and the goal would actually be closer to 30 million. But by doing this this year, and then hopefully again next year, I think they want to try and do it twice, right?

SPEAKER_02

Right.

Katie

And so it's like if we can show folks, if you give us the resources, we can get it done. That's correct. And then efficiently a long time to get our road network overall back up to where we want it to be. That's still like even with the additional resources, like a 20-year goal, right?

SPEAKER_02

Right. That definitely is a 20-year goal. And prices for materials, it goes up over time. So we are cognizant about that and also the efficiencies of the different types of material

Tracking Progress With The Dashboard

SPEAKER_02

that we put on street type. And so it arterials, collectors, and locals, there are different types of recommended materials to put in that has changed over the years too. So that's really good that um we're recognizing that.

Katie

Yeah, like newer technologies, newer kind of materials. And arterials are like your biggest through roads in Arvada. Think of your 80th Avenues, your Walston Roads. Collectors are kind of those neighborhood roads that like everybody tends to take to get out of a neighborhood to an arterial. That's correct. Um, and then local roads, which is the one in front of your house typically. Right. Yeah, right. And so they all kind of need different have different needs. And how do you prioritize which roads get which types of work? We take data.

SPEAKER_02

We have one of three sections of our network analyzed every year. And then we take that data and we have a program that it goes into that spits out the different levels that they're at. Pavement quality index, it kind of shows if it's good, fair, or failing. And that we take that information as well as we do field trips to say, okay, we to confirm the data, and then we also see what the budget is and what we can allocate, and we do estimates as to what that area is gonna cost to fix.

Katie

Even if you go through all of that and identify an area, if the water line is gonna get replaced, you're not gonna go in there just before that work.

SPEAKER_02

That's so true. So that is part of it, as well as we vet it internally and externally to see if there is any proposed projects for that area. We wanna make sure that it's a collaborative effort and that we're not gonna have to go back out there and do it again.

Katie

And I think one thing we hear a lot is like, well, what about the road in front of my house? And you're kind of speaking to this about how we use different types of treatments on different roads, but some of like the most failed roads are often those neighborhood roads. And they're not always the most prioritized roads. Can you kind of explain what that is?

SPEAKER_02

It's not gonna get any better if it's in that red zone, let's say, we know that we are totally aware that that needs attention. But we want to make sure too that those roads that are in that median area that those get milled and overlaid is more of a priority. I'm talking more like arterial and collector. And then we also take neighborhoods and sprinkle those in as well. So we do a couple neighborhoods a a year.

Katie

And if you think about it, like the collector and the arterials, like those just see more traffic and so they deteriorate a little bit more quickly. And then the consequences of the roads being in disrepair can be more significant because there's often higher speeds and things for folks. And yes, it can be more uncomfortable to drive on a deteriorated road that is a faster road. Right. But then there's a lot more local roads, like it's the biggest percentage of our network, but it's not maybe the most impactful community-wide to focus on them.

SPEAKER_02

Right. We do want to focus on them to keep the ones that are in that maintenance period where they need crack seal or slurry seal to keep those good. And also we want to address those that are totally failing and need attention. We do it in all areas of the city. We sprinkle. And our manager does a great job with making sure and looking at all the data and addressing the right areas.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's a balancing act. I think it really is. That's why I was a guest on the show, I don't know, a couple years ago now. And you really got into this topic of like I think you compared it to maintaining your car, right? Like you want to fix something um while you can before you have to total the whole thing. That's kind of similar to these roads, right? Like these neighborhood roads like might just be completely failed, and eventually we're gonna get to them, but we wanna use our funding to maintain the other roads while we still can before they fall into

Why Funding Paving Matters Now

SPEAKER_01

complete disrepair.

SPEAKER_02

Right. You know, there's so many different strategies that uh Ben has implemented that is helping the program and the progress, and it's been amazing to experience with him and his team when a road is totally failed, when we're developing the plan for every year, we utilize our funding as best practices. You know, it's like, okay, that one is not gonna get any better. It costs more to reconstruct the road than it does to repave something that doesn't need it, might need some patching, but it doesn't need a total scrape bit.

Katie

Yeah, that's a good plug for our understanding the pavement program webpage that we can link to too. It has like a life cycle of a road graphic that shows like the maintenance work that you do early on on a road is really low cost, high value on keeping that road in good condition. But as you get around that cycle um into more cost intensive work with the most cost intensive being once a road has kind of fully failed, it's got to be reconstructed and it takes a lot of resources. It's just a balancing act to prioritize all those different types of work each year.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, definitely.

Katie

And I know how much you all, especially in construction season, are talking with community members. You're working with our contractors that are out there, um our inspectors that are out there in the field, where you do so much to answer community concerns and questions.

SPEAKER_02

I absolutely love it. Reaching out to and helping our community to understand why we're doing it and how we're doing it. And I think it's extremely important to keep our community aware. We have cards that we hand out to the communities that give more information about the pavement management program. We also have door hangers that any neighborhood that's being impacted gives them the information. Also has our contact information in the contractor's contact information. I embrace when people reach out and so that their concerns or their questions are answered. Because, like you said, Sean, it looks like it's all over the place. It impacts the homeowners. In the past, we've had people call and say, I work from home. The noise from the construction is making it so that I can't concentrate. And so we make sure that we communicate with them.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think you bring a really great perspective, having been on the other side of things for so long. I think that's an invaluable perspective that you add to the work that you do.

SPEAKER_02

Right. We want that to be easier for the contractor as well. Not easier, but we want to hold them accountable so that they understand that their construction is impacting. And so we don't want them to come back and have a lot of warranty work and such, so that our inspection team is a great partner because they know what is expected of them.

Katie

Do it once, do it right, well, as much as we can. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

My dad always said, I don't want to come back out here and do it again. So we're gonna do it right the

How Streets Get Prioritized

SPEAKER_02

first time because warranty, you don't get paid for practicing. Right, right.

SPEAKER_01

Um speaking of warranty, yeah, before we move on to our final couple segments here, we you know like to ask all our guests about misconceptions, common questions that you want to maybe clear up or even just reiterate for our listeners about the work that you do. So this floor is yours, Christine. What do you want to uh tell folks?

SPEAKER_02

Oh I want to make sure that it's clear that that the city does not pay for any warranty work. So if there is anything that's failed, that they have a warranty period for two years, we get a list together, they go out and address it, the city is not responsible for it. For instance, a ramp. If there's a ramp that was replaced and it's it's defective, then they the contractor comes out and replaces it.

Katie

Just like you would have a warranty on an appliance in your house. You got it. The same idea. If something breaks on an appliance and during that warranty period, the company replaces it at no cost to the customer. In this case, the city is the customer essentially.

SPEAKER_02

So other m misconceptions or questions is sometimes slurry seal, we get calls that it was just paved. Why are you paving it again? I'm not, I live it every day. So I know, oh, that's not repaving. It's it's a slurry seal. So that is enlightening to me because I want to make sure that people understand the efficiencies and the why.

Katie

Mm-hmm.

unknown

Yeah.

Katie

And then in that case, it's like it looks like it's a repaving, but actually this is a maintenance tool. It's a lower cost initiative to help keep that road that was recently repaved or something to in good condition for longer. So you don't have to do the costly work of repaving it. Exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

We took to Instagram and the day before we recorded this and said, hey, what do folks want to know about our pavement program? And so we got a lot of good questions from SZTC. I don't know how you pronounce that, but there the question is uh not enough space, need flagmen. 64th was a safety issue with limited flags, untrained. Essentially, they felt like there wasn't enough safety uh measures being put in place in a project. And so, Christine, if you can kind of address how important we take these sort of safety issues and if someone out there sees something that they like to bring to our attention, how they can do that.

SPEAKER_02

We really appreciate it when somebody does reach out to us and let us know if they saw a safety concern of theirs. Um so we try and monitor and hold the contractors to our standards, but we can't be everywhere. If somebody reaches out to say something, it is extremely helpful for us. If we do have any safety concerns, they are immediately addressed with the contractor. We make sure that they are held accountable for that.

Katie

An ask our bata is a good way to reach out with that sort of thing. Yeah, especially because it may be a pavement specific project, but it may also be someone else's construction. So best way if you see a safety concern on any project or any kind of traffic control that's happening around a project, submit an ascarbata and somebody will get get on it quickly. Obviously, if it's a you know real safety concern, call 911. We're not circumventing that part of the way either. Yeah. Like um that you just feel like it's maybe not up to par.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And then so we got uh a few great questions from the 1992

Warranties, Slurry Seal, And Misconceptions

SPEAKER_01

Superman. What is the pavement degradation impact along the vehicle weight scale? So essentially what I think they're getting at is like how do heavier vehicles impact the road differently?

SPEAKER_02

That is a really great question. They do pavement degradation. It's a hard one to design.

SPEAKER_01

I was gonna trip up on it.

SPEAKER_02

The mixed designs for the asphalt that can hold up for a longer period of time. Dirtier material on roads with more. And also thicker asphalt.

Katie

Okay. So and so the takeaway here that Sean pointed out was few if you uh want your road to stay in good condition longer, select the fewer trips option on Amazon. There you go, right?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, that's a truck trips and participate in the uh city's waste hauling program too, so that we don't have like several different trash trucks every week going up and down your street. So um, well, that was a great debut, I thought.

Katie

Listeners write in, tell us if you like the exactly right. Okay, so I have three trivia questions for you. I don't anticipate you'll know the answers. They're fun, historical trivia. But if you do know an answer, allow the other person a chance to also try and answer. In 1942, Arvada, like the rest of the country, was responding to the effects of World War II. One effect of the war was a tire shortage, a rubber shortage. Arvadans began a drive to collect old tires and other forms of rubber. How many pounds of rubber did the community collect? A 500, B 5,000, C 50,000, or D 500,000 pounds of rubber?

SPEAKER_01

5,000.

Katie

C. That's correct. 50,000 of rubber. It sounded like it was mostly tires, but there were like other types of rubber too. When was the first road paved in Arvada? Bonus points if you know what the road was. Um

Safety Concerns And Heavy Vehicles

Katie

1921, 1931, 1941, or 1951. First road paved. 41. 21. 21. Guesses on the road? Grandtown. It was Grandview Avenue. Yeah, yeah. Grandview Avenue in 1921. So um, third one in December 1966, Arvada celebrated the opening of what road between Sheridan and Wadsworth?

SPEAKER_01

72nd Avenue.

Katie

It's kind of a trick question. I-70 between Sheridan and Wads. They were using a contractor called Asphalt Paving Company of Golden, and then they were still working on continuing the connection west from Wads to Kipling.

SPEAKER_01

There you are. Yeah.

Katie

Christine, thanks for joining us. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you.

Katie

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01

As a reminder, we love hearing from our listeners. You can stay in touch by texting us using the link at the top of the show notes, or you can also email us at podcast at arvata.org. We love hearing feedback about what you enjoy, what you'd like to see differently, episode ideas and more, and just general questions about what's going on around the city, such as an email we got recently from Benjamin Herschelman, who was asking about potentially having a tennis pickleball court installed at Oak Park. And this was related to the courts that had to be removed at nearby Davis Lane Park for a sewer line replacement project in the area. One of the potential solutions was to put the courts back over at Oak Park as to not create conflict with the newly installed sewer line. Ultimately, though, that was determined that that was not an option and that we are gonna eventually put the pickleball tennis courts back in Davis Lane Park. We don't know specifically where in the park we'll put it back yet. Right now we're just in like the warranty period of that sewer line work. And so you can uh visit the webpage to

Arvada Road Trivia And Wrap-Up

SPEAKER_01

learn more about that project. But unfortunately, no Ben Cortz will not be going in at Oak Park as we once uh had at one of the possibilities when we were doing community engagement back a couple years ago. Now on to the uh events going on around town. Our movies around town series continues on Friday, August 21st with a free showing of the film Little Shop of Horrors over at Westwoods Park. Be sure to get there early for live music featuring James Hurtado before the movie starts around dusk. And we also have our movies around town people's choice movie poll up right now, and that'll be used to determine which film will show on October 9th, our final movies around town event of the year at Clear Creek Valley Park. Choices for the movie poll this year are Hocus Pocus, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Halloween Town, Clue, or the Adams Family. And you can vote in that poll at arbataco.gov slash movies.

Katie

It's a great list of possible movies.

SPEAKER_01

That's a hard choice. Close one so far.

Katie

So then there's also the last bulky item drop-off event of the season on August 15th, Saturday at the North Area Athletic Complex or the NAC from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. And be sure to check the website for the list of accepted items and everything to know before you go at orveta co.gov slash bulky items. What better way to celebrate

Listener Contact And City Updates

Katie

Colorado's 150th birthday than by sharing a meal with your neighbors and friends? So we're inviting residents and community members to participate in the 150 tables across Colorado and host a gathering that brings people together across neighborhoods and backgrounds and different experiences, big tables, small tables, just conversations to help build a stronger, more connected community. And so you can learn more about how to get involved in that at arvataco.gov slash 150 tables. And that's the numbers 150 tables. Thank you again to our guest today, Christine Valentino Biddle. Be sure to listen to our next episode with Sarah Kolb from the Arts and Culture Commission. Today's podcast was recorded and edited by Arvada Creative Services.

SPEAKER_01

And today's fun fact is of the $25 million allocated for the pavement program this year, $14 million is for Mill and Overlay.

Katie

Whoa.