Raymore staff says decades-long curb backlog and new ADA rules could stretch replacement to nearly 10 years

Staff member Mister Fairborn told the Raymore City Council on April 1 that the city’s residential curb network faces widespread deterioration and a large backlog of work.

"Curbs bad, curbs expensive, need to be replaced," Mister Fairborn said, summarizing the condition assessment staff presented. He said the inventory covers roughly 173.04 miles of curb and cited a total residential figure of about 913,640 square feet that will need to be addressed over time.

Mister Fairborn said the city’s historic replacement capacity is limited: "In a good year, we’re doing 25,000 square feet of curb," he said, and noted the slide in that presentation that indicates current budgeting is $800,000 a year while a $1,000,000 annual program would be the planning assumption used for multi-year projections. Using that $1,000,000-per-year assumption, staff estimated about eight years to replace the curb currently rated worst; he warned that timeframe could extend toward a decade once ADA-ramp redesigns and higher per-ramp costs are factored in.

Staff explained a statutory change affecting ADA curb ramps requires a different configuration at intersections: ramps that previously angled into the street must, in many locations, be reconfigured to face the crossing, effectively doubling the amount of concrete per intersection. Mister Fairborn said that change raises per-ramp costs from roughly $3,000 to about $6,000 and will increase project costs when curb replacement coincides with ramp upgrades.

Council members questioned causes of the deterioration. Sonya asked whether local salt use or concrete mix might be to blame; Mister Fairborn replied the issue is "nationwide" and attributable to broader concrete quality and performance problems rather than local maintenance practices. He said the city now reviews curb condition on roughly an 18-month cycle and that staff will return with options to accelerate work ahead of next year’s budget, though he cautioned some options "may cause some pain."

Mister Fairborn also noted the staff total excludes collector streets (he named Dean Avenue as an example) and that those corridors will require separate funding when they are scheduled for reconstruction. He described the city's "complete streets" practice—installing curb first, letting it cure, then paving—which can delay curb replacement on stretches that receive full street reconstruction.

Staff said it will update the ADA-ramp inventory completed by interns three years ago and provide revised cost estimates to the council in advance of the next fiscal-year budget. The presentation did not include a formal proposal to change current annual funding; Mister Fairborn framed the briefing as preliminary context for future budget discussions.