Streets 101
How the City maintains more than 500 lane miles — from funding and project selection to pavement management, traffic calming, and snow response.
The City of Bartlesville maintains 538 lane miles of roadway, not including alleys or highways, utilizing funding primarily approved by voters in the City’s General Obligation Bond and Half-cent Capital Improvements (CIP) Sales Tax elections.
Proper street maintenance is a top priority for the City, and efforts are made to continually identify needs and allocate general funds for on-going maintenance projects.
Prioritization of street projects are based on engineering data including functional use, traffic counts, pavement condition assessment and deterioration models, and input from citizens, the City Council and the citizen-driven Street and Traffic Committee.
FUNDING
Street projects are funded three ways:
- General Obligation (G.O.) Bonds
- Half-cent Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) Sales tax
- General Fund
The first two require approval by both the City Council and Bartlesville voters. Elections are held every five years for CIP funding, and every three to five years for G.O. Bonds.
In preparation for these elections, street projects are identified in all five of the city’s wards based on the following:
- The Pavement Management Analysis (scroll down for more information)
- Recommendations from the citizen-driven Street and Traffic Committee
- Citizen complaints
- Internal/staff assessment of road use and condition and considering whether or not it is likely to cause damage to vehicles and consideration of whether the roadway is an arterial street or not
The last method of funding is through the City's General Fund, which is used to fund most City operations. General Fund projects are selected by the Public Works Department on an "as needed" basis, and are typically simple in nature, such as a mill and overlay or pothole repair. This is because the City has limited staff and equipment required for more complex or in-depth improvements.
HIGHWAYS
The No. 1 question/complaint City staff receives regarding streets concerns is when the City plans to fix one or more of the following roadways: Hensley Boulevard, Adams Boulevard, and Washington Boulevard.
These roads are actually highways (Highway 123, Highway 60, and Highway 75, respectively) and are owned by the State of Oklahoma, more specifically, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. By law, the City cannot spend public funds on property it doesn’t own, so improvements to these highways must be completed by ODOT.
While the City is generally apprised of planned ODOT projects within the city limits, City staff are not always aware when projects have been changed, cancelled or rescheduled. For this reason, the City does not issue information on State projects, with the exceptions of start dates and lane closures, as notified by ODOT.
Information regarding highway projects in Oklahoma are outlined in ODOT’s “8-Year Plan.” To view the full plan, see www.oklahoma.gov. For ODOT contact information, see their website.
REPORT PROBLEMS
If the street you're concerned about is in bad enough shape, it's a pretty safe bet it is on the list for repair and will be fixed as soon as the funding has been identified and is available. However, it never hurts to tell us about it.
If it's an issue that requires immediate attention, please call 911, if warranted, or contact the Public Works Department to report it. You can submit a report or contect them at 918.338.4130 or 918.338.4131.
If it is not an emergency but rather general roadway deterioration, contact the Street and Traffic Committee or call 918.338.4251.
PAVEMENT MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS
The Pavement Management Analysis, or PMA analysis, is performed by IMS Infrastructure Management Services of Tempe, Arizona, periodically, which involves an analysis of every City-owned street in Bartlesville.
Long-term planning is based on this in-depth report showing the condition of the city’s streets and how to best manage repairs and rehabilitation. The PMA works on the premise that it is more cost effective to perform repairs and/or maintenance on streets before they reach a certain point of deterioration. It is heavily relied upon when prioritizing street projects, although other criteria (as outlined above) is used as well.
SPEED BUMPS & TRAFFIC CALMING SIGNS
Speed humps, more commonly referred to as speed bumps, are the most-often recommended traffic calming device for existing residential and collector streets due to cost, ease of construction and availability of materials.
The City of Bartlesville offers a process for residents to request speed humps as a traffic calming measure in their neighborhood. These requests are managed by the Engineering Department and are based on a number of considerations, including:
- Safety
- Services (school busses, snowplowing, trash collection, etc.
- Citizen and neighborhood concerns
- Operation of adjacent arterials
- Measurement of existing conditions
- Avoidance of diverting traffic to adjacent streets
- Ingress/egress to residences
- Proximity to schools or designated school routes
If the street meets warrants for traffic calming measures as outlined in the City’s Traffic Calming Policy, the requesting party, usually a neighborhood, is required to pay 50 percent of the cost of installing a speed hump, with a minimum payment of $100. The City will provide the other half of the funding as well as provide labor and equipment for installation.
To begin the process of installation, visit the Engineering page to download an application or contact the Engineering Department, or call 918.338.4151. A study will then be conducted to measure the speed, volume and accident counts on the proposed street.
Additionally, special traffic signs may be requested through the Engineering Department to increase driver awareness and calm traffic, such as those indicating a deaf child residing in the area.
For more information, view the City’s Traffic Calming Policy.
STREET SIGNS
To report a damaged street sign or to request a new sign, contact the Public Works department at 918.338.4131 or submit a request.
SNOW & ICE REMOVAL
During snow and/or ice events, the Public Works Department applies a sand and salt mixture to city streets where needed, in accordance with the City’s Snow Removal Policy.
Priority is given to streets in the following order:
- Major arterial streets
- Collector streets
- Residential streets
For more information, see Snow and Ice Removal Policy.