What the Experts Say about Wear and Tear on City Streets
Many advocates of single hauler government collection monopolies claim that there will be a significant reduction in the cost of maintaining city streets if choice is eliminated. This claim is not supported by pavement experts.
Star Tribune
The article in the November 2, 2013 edition of the Star Tribune titled "Across Minnesota, asphalt roads crumbling due to faulty mix", is old news. It has been known for years that many streets, in at least 35 cities, have been experiencing pavement issues not due to vehicles or use of any type, but due to construction methods.
Read more...
City of Bloomington
In a letter to the Bloomington City Council dated July 11, 2014, Bloomington Public Works Director Karl Keel discounted all claims that Government Managed Trash Collection would improve safety, improve the environment, or would reduce road maintenance costs.
Read more...
City of Fridley
In 2014, the City of Fridley hired a firm with close relationships to city governments for the purpose of conducting a study on the impact of garbage trucks on city streets. The study claimed that the life of a 20 year road would be reduced by 5 years due to two or three garbage trucks driving down a street once a week.
A retired public works director and professional engineer reviewed the Fridley report and raises serious questions as to its assumptions and accuracy. He had this to say:
"Looking at the street design data for Fridley streets it appears that a majority of the them were built to a low load limit (which would be normal back then) as compared to what residential streets are being designed to today. They range from 2” to 4” of pavement over 2” to 6” (mostly) base material as compared to 2” to 4” of pavement over 8” to 10” of base material. The result is as would be expected, the low load design roads will not last long with heavier loads placed on them."
"The report assumes that the Fridley streets were built to information in their data base. This was not confirmed by conducting core samples as this would be very costly. This would result in an error in the calculations."
"Bituminous streets are only as good as the materials they are built on. So if the base material and/or sub-base material are not designed and constructed to the correct thickness the pavement will fail prematurely."
"I could not conclude if the study was taking into account normal maintenance and/or if this would impact the calculations. They state they are assuming a 20 year life of the street. Normal maintenance of crack sealing, seal coating + mil and overlay can extend the life out to a 30 year life. But again this would be based on traffic loading and base design."
"It is not clear how the study is taking into account garbage truck traffic, but no matter what, there will be some heavy trucks using the street. Trash needs to be collected and this can be done by a single hauler or several haulers. Based on routes, a single hauler picking up everyone’s trash would fill up sooner resulting in a heavy load over a portion of the street where multiple haulers could be at lower loads over this segment. The study seems to look at calculating the number of additional heavy trucks and is not looking at this issue."
"Finally, the study is assuming the trucks are at full load all the time. This would result in the worst case scenario. I do not believe this is a real life situation."
Greg Schroeder, P.E. (retired)
City of Saint Paul
City of Minneapolis
City of Little Canada
US Army Corps of Engineers
City of Roseville
On April 15, 2015, public works staff presented a report to the city council about the accelerated deterioration of the top layer of street pavement. The technical term is called delamination. Staff stated that many other cities in the metro area and around Minnesota have been experiencing this issue. The cause? According to MnDOT researchers, it is related to poor field construction methods. Vehicles like garbage trucks are nowhere to be found in the report.
Read more...
On November 29, 2016, the public works director updated the city council's public works citizen advisory commission on planned road maintenance for 2017. The director stated that the city stopped sealcoating due to the delamination problem where surface pavement was peeling up from roads in some areas. He stated that they believe there was something in the oil that was trapping water and interacting with the top pavement layer.
Commenting on other communities, he stated that some apparently have not gotten the message and continue to use the same products for sealcoating. He said staff plans on looking back in history to see when changes were made in the formula and when the problems were first noticed. Unless something dramatic is discovered, he said they have no plans to do sealcoating in 2017. They plan on looking at other options to maintain pavement but advised the commission that these options may require longer road closures.
Sealcoating products, not garbage trucks or vehicle weight, was cited as the cause of Roseville city street deterioration.
Moore Engineering, Inc.
In March 2011, Moore Engineering, Inc. conducted a study titled "City Street Budgets - Cost Comparison Analysis".
In conclusion, Moore Engineering, Inc. stated that "Generally, it appears there is not a definitive correlation between the type of garbage collection system and the cost per mile to maintain streets."
Read more...
Trucks & Road Wear (Coon Rapids, MnDOT, Arden Hills, UofM, Crystal)
In 2007, several government entities addressed the issue of whether limiting the number of garbage trucks on streets would reduce road wear.
Read more...
URS, Inc.
In 2005, the URS, Inc. provided a memorandum to the City of Arden Hills on the issue of pavement design and the factors that lead to deterioration.
In summery, URS, Inc. stated, "Although vehicle types and loading contribute to the wear of the pavement section, environmental factors also contribute to the deterioration of the pavement section. A properly designed bituminous surface should be able to handle the traffic loading over its design live including heavy truck loadings experienced in Arden Hills. Reducing the number of heavy truck loadings should have positive effects on the lifespan and quality of local streets, however environmental factors are generally responsible for the majority of pavement wear and deterioration for Arden Hills streets and therefore significant extensions of pavement life are unlikely."
Read more...
Updated 12/11/16
Many advocates of single hauler government collection monopolies claim that there will be a significant reduction in the cost of maintaining city streets if choice is eliminated. This claim is not supported by pavement experts.
Star Tribune
The article in the November 2, 2013 edition of the Star Tribune titled "Across Minnesota, asphalt roads crumbling due to faulty mix", is old news. It has been known for years that many streets, in at least 35 cities, have been experiencing pavement issues not due to vehicles or use of any type, but due to construction methods.
Read more...
City of Bloomington
In a letter to the Bloomington City Council dated July 11, 2014, Bloomington Public Works Director Karl Keel discounted all claims that Government Managed Trash Collection would improve safety, improve the environment, or would reduce road maintenance costs.
Read more...
City of Fridley
In 2014, the City of Fridley hired a firm with close relationships to city governments for the purpose of conducting a study on the impact of garbage trucks on city streets. The study claimed that the life of a 20 year road would be reduced by 5 years due to two or three garbage trucks driving down a street once a week.
A retired public works director and professional engineer reviewed the Fridley report and raises serious questions as to its assumptions and accuracy. He had this to say:
"Looking at the street design data for Fridley streets it appears that a majority of the them were built to a low load limit (which would be normal back then) as compared to what residential streets are being designed to today. They range from 2” to 4” of pavement over 2” to 6” (mostly) base material as compared to 2” to 4” of pavement over 8” to 10” of base material. The result is as would be expected, the low load design roads will not last long with heavier loads placed on them."
"The report assumes that the Fridley streets were built to information in their data base. This was not confirmed by conducting core samples as this would be very costly. This would result in an error in the calculations."
"Bituminous streets are only as good as the materials they are built on. So if the base material and/or sub-base material are not designed and constructed to the correct thickness the pavement will fail prematurely."
"I could not conclude if the study was taking into account normal maintenance and/or if this would impact the calculations. They state they are assuming a 20 year life of the street. Normal maintenance of crack sealing, seal coating + mil and overlay can extend the life out to a 30 year life. But again this would be based on traffic loading and base design."
"It is not clear how the study is taking into account garbage truck traffic, but no matter what, there will be some heavy trucks using the street. Trash needs to be collected and this can be done by a single hauler or several haulers. Based on routes, a single hauler picking up everyone’s trash would fill up sooner resulting in a heavy load over a portion of the street where multiple haulers could be at lower loads over this segment. The study seems to look at calculating the number of additional heavy trucks and is not looking at this issue."
"Finally, the study is assuming the trucks are at full load all the time. This would result in the worst case scenario. I do not believe this is a real life situation."
Greg Schroeder, P.E. (retired)
City of Saint Paul
City of Minneapolis
City of Little Canada
US Army Corps of Engineers
City of Roseville
On April 15, 2015, public works staff presented a report to the city council about the accelerated deterioration of the top layer of street pavement. The technical term is called delamination. Staff stated that many other cities in the metro area and around Minnesota have been experiencing this issue. The cause? According to MnDOT researchers, it is related to poor field construction methods. Vehicles like garbage trucks are nowhere to be found in the report.
Read more...
On November 29, 2016, the public works director updated the city council's public works citizen advisory commission on planned road maintenance for 2017. The director stated that the city stopped sealcoating due to the delamination problem where surface pavement was peeling up from roads in some areas. He stated that they believe there was something in the oil that was trapping water and interacting with the top pavement layer.
Commenting on other communities, he stated that some apparently have not gotten the message and continue to use the same products for sealcoating. He said staff plans on looking back in history to see when changes were made in the formula and when the problems were first noticed. Unless something dramatic is discovered, he said they have no plans to do sealcoating in 2017. They plan on looking at other options to maintain pavement but advised the commission that these options may require longer road closures.
Sealcoating products, not garbage trucks or vehicle weight, was cited as the cause of Roseville city street deterioration.
Moore Engineering, Inc.
In March 2011, Moore Engineering, Inc. conducted a study titled "City Street Budgets - Cost Comparison Analysis".
In conclusion, Moore Engineering, Inc. stated that "Generally, it appears there is not a definitive correlation between the type of garbage collection system and the cost per mile to maintain streets."
Read more...
Trucks & Road Wear (Coon Rapids, MnDOT, Arden Hills, UofM, Crystal)
In 2007, several government entities addressed the issue of whether limiting the number of garbage trucks on streets would reduce road wear.
Read more...
URS, Inc.
In 2005, the URS, Inc. provided a memorandum to the City of Arden Hills on the issue of pavement design and the factors that lead to deterioration.
In summery, URS, Inc. stated, "Although vehicle types and loading contribute to the wear of the pavement section, environmental factors also contribute to the deterioration of the pavement section. A properly designed bituminous surface should be able to handle the traffic loading over its design live including heavy truck loadings experienced in Arden Hills. Reducing the number of heavy truck loadings should have positive effects on the lifespan and quality of local streets, however environmental factors are generally responsible for the majority of pavement wear and deterioration for Arden Hills streets and therefore significant extensions of pavement life are unlikely."
Read more...
Updated 12/11/16