SR0220 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0220 LRB097 11822 KXB 55112 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Proper pavement preservation and maintenance has gained national attention throughout the past decade as a critical part of any comprehensive plan to maintain highway systems; and

WHEREAS, The National Center for Pavement Preservation was opened in October of 2003, with the mission of promoting sensible pavement preservation strategies nationwide; and

WHEREAS, On October 8, 2004, the Federal Highway Administration put out a policy memorandum titled "Preventive Maintenance Eligibility" that stated the following: "Experience has shown that when properly applied, preventive maintenance is a cost effective way of extending the service life of highway assets and therefore is eligible for Federal-Aid funding. By using lower-cost system preservation methods, states can improve system conditions, minimize road construction impacts on traveling public, and better manage their resources. Preventive maintenance offers State DOT's a way of increasing the return on their infrastructure investment"; and

WHEREAS, The Federal Highway Administration supports the development and conduct of efficient pavement preservation programs which address pavements in good condition before the onset of serious damage and allow states to reduce costly, time-consuming rehabilitation and reconstruction projects with improved safety and mobility, reduced congestion, and smoother, longer lasting pavements; and

WHEREAS, The treatments and activities commonly defined as preventive maintenance include: joint repairs, crack seals, pavement patching, and thin surface treatments such as chip-seals, ultra-thin hot-mix, and micro-surfacing; and

WHEREAS, The Indiana Department of Transportation's own study reveals that every dollar spent on preventive maintenance saves the user agency ten dollars down the line in rehabilitation and reconstruction costs; and

WHEREAS, The Foundation for Pavement Preservation, a non-profit consortium of industry and government groups, confirmed the results of a Michigan Department of Transportation study of its pavement preservation program, which was implemented in 1992 and evaluated in 1996; had the Department of Transportation not implemented its preventative maintenance strategy, the Department of Transportation would have to spend $700 million on rehabilitation and construction to bring pavements to their current conditions, a cost more than 8 times as much as was spent on preventative maintenance treatment; and

WHEREAS, Benefits and attributes of implementing a pavement preservation program include no extra increase in budget, an increase in pavement network condition, increased user satisfaction, improvements in system safety, reduced cost per mile expenditures, a lowered life-cycle cost, no decrease in hot-mix or concrete volumes, no decrease in the number of industry jobs, and freeing up additional cost resources for other rehabilitation and construction; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we encourage furthering the effort to create a comprehensive pavement preservation and maintenance plan in Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we commend the Illinois Department of Transportation for initiating Illinois' first pavement preservation program in 2004, and we recommend that the Illinois Department of Transportation further develop a full scale pavement preservation program; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we recommend that the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority adopt a similar pavement preservation program; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to the Secretary of the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Chairman of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.