Street Maintenance 101
Pavement Minor Maintenance Treatments
The Tigard Public Works Department is responsible for the
maintenance of 148 miles of paved streets, 1 mile of gravel streets, maintenance
of street and traffic signs and pavement markings, installation and maintenance of guardrails and
barricades, crack sealing, and patching street surfaces and maintenance of
off-street bicycle paths.
Pavement Major Maintenance Treatments
There are four main pavement maintenance treatments commonly used on city streets:
- Slurry Seal - Typically used on good residential streets to keep them in good condition
- Asphalt Overlay - Often used as regular maintenance on busy streets, or to repair fair/poor residential streets
- Major Overlay - Often used on busy streets that have deteriorated into poor condition
- Street Reconstruction - Typically done only when a street's condition is very poor
For more information about each type of maintenance
treatment, please click here.
Right-of-way Maintenance
The City of Tigard monitors roadside areas and contracts to mow and remove tall grass and brush to maintain clear
sight distance for drivers and minimize fire hazards. The City also trims trees in the right-of-way annually to
ensure lights and signs aren't blocked and to keep tree limbs from growing into travel lanes. The current budget
includes only enough funding for right-of-way maintenance where it is necessary to protect the safety of the
traveling public, but not enough for any landscaping or aesthetic improvements.
The increased street maintenance fee will provide funding for maintenance of planted medians and storm water
treatment planters. It also provides funding for basic maintenance of public areas along arterials between curbs
and back fences that are currently not maintained. This will keep our public areas looking decent, but the compromise
Street Maintenance Fee does not provide enough for the planting, landscaping and aesthetic improvements that many
of our citizens envision.
| Examples of right-of-way areas needing maintenance |
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| Grass/bushes overgrown, obstructing sidewalk. |
Grass and weeds over 10 inches tall along planter strip. |
Grass and weeds over 10 inches tall along sidewalk. |
| Examples of well-maintained right-of-way areas |
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| Durham Road |
Durham Road |
A Street |
Sidewalks (Not Funded by Street Maintenance Fee)
Property owners are still responsible to maintain the sidewalks adjacent to their property.
Sidewalk maintenance includes
repair of cracks and uneven surfaces and keeping the sidewalk clear of snow, ice and debris. The City maintains sidewalks
adjacent to City-owned property using Traffic Impact Fee (TIF) and gas tax dollars. The Street Maintenance Fee does
not fund sidewalk maintenance.
For sidewalk maintenance code requirements, click here.
| Examples of sidewalks needing repair |
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| Sunken sidewalk. |
Buckled and sunken sidewalk. |
Close-up of uneven sidewalk panels. |
Street Lights and Traffic Signals
The City's electric bill for street lights and traffic signals is about $500,000 per year. It costs approximately an
additional $100,000 per year to maintain the system (replace burned out lights, make repairs to damaged poles and burned
out lights, replacing antiquated signal equipment, etc.) These costs are paid for with gas tax funds.
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Why is it Important?
How do we pay for Street Maintenance?
Pavement Condition
Increase in Fees...Why Now?
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