The report, which is based on data gathered last July, shows the condition of Pearland’s streets has stayed consistent over the past decade, with nearly half of all streets being rated as being in “very good” condition, according to city documents.
However, the overall pavement condition index, or PCI, has seen a small dip since 2014, and the percentage of roads rated as “poor” and “very poor” has more than doubled in that time—up from 1.5% to 3.6%, documents show.
What you need to know
In a special meeting held March 25, Pearland City Council reviewed the findings from Infrastructure Management Services, or IMS, which carried out the first study of the city’s roads since 2014.
The results showed the majority of roads—roughly 70%—in the city being in either “very good” or “excellent” condition, according to the results from the presentation.
The average PCI for the city was 74 out of a scale of 100, according to city documents. Despite being down from an average of 76 in 2014, Sadaf Khosravifar with IMS said this was a “very good average PCI.”
For reference, IMS’s clients have an average PCI of 63, while the average across the state of Texas is 68, Khosravifar said.
Council member Rushi Patel asked for more detail on the slight decline in average PCI. He noted the city has seen a large population increase over the past decade. From 2015 to 2023, the population within the city’s limits increased by an estimated 23,500 people, or about 21.6%, according to the city’s website.
“That’s an asterisk I’d footnote and put somewhere,” he said.
The framework
To gather the information, IMS uses a vehicle that takes 3D images of the roads and locates pavement defects, which are then analyzed and classified based on what kind of defect they are, Khosravifar said at the meeting.
PCI is measured with two components, according to city documents. Those are:
- Surface distress index, or SDI, which takes the total amount of observable pavement defects, such as potholes and cracks
- Roughness index, or RI, which measures the change in elevation of a road over a certain distance
Both are measured on a scale of 0-100, according to city documents. The city takes 67% of SDI and 33% of RI, and that gives them the total PCI for a particular road.
Roads graded at a PCI of 40 or below are considered in either poor, or very poor condition, documents show.
What else?
While the city’s concrete roads have stayed fairly consistent since 2014, going from a PCI of 78 to 76, asphalt roads saw a dip in PCI from 66 to 59 in that same time, according to city documents.
About 20.4% of asphalt roads were either “poor” or “very poor” compared with 0.7% of concrete, according to city documents.
Concrete makes up more than 80% of the city’s 980 lane miles, while asphalt makes up the remaining 18%, officials said at the meeting.
Stay tuned
City officials estimate close to $6 million annually will need to be budgeted in order to maintain the city’s current PCI, according to the presentation.
How the city prioritizes road projects going forward though was left up to future discussions, as some, including Patel, said they wanted to prioritize road repairs based on the amount of traffic.
Concerns about keeping up with repairs on asphalt roads are also something officials are eying, City Manager Trent Epperson said.
