DeKalb officials detail SPLAS 2 resurfacing plan, warn costs have doubled and stress oversight

DeKalb County staff told the Citizens Subcommittee on April that the county’s SPLAS 2 referendum will target about 200 miles of resurfacing in unincorporated areas and explained how roads are prioritized, inspected and paid for.

Chief Operating Officer Zach Williams opened the presentation and said the briefing would cover the road‑rating process, contractor selection and accountability so the committee and taxpayers understand how funds are allocated. "We're going to talk about the road rating process," Williams said, and explained staff would provide documentation so members “have an understanding of how the SPLAS committee members and taxpayers will have an understanding of how the funds are allocated.”

Peggy Allen, director of roads and drainage, described the county’s pavement condition index (PCI) system. She said DeKalb maintains more than 7,000 road segments and rates each segment at least once a year on a 0–62 scale, where lower numbers reflect better condition: "We actually maintain over 7,000 road segments and we rate those segments annually...the streets are given a rating between 0 and 62." She said the county records multiple distress types (alligator cracking, longitudinal cracking, potholes, raveling) and keeps historical PCI snapshots to inform resurfacing decisions.

Allen said SPLAS funding, combined with the Georgia Department of Transportation local maintenance improvement (ELME) grant, allows the county to resurface more miles than the prior annual average of roughly 20–30 miles. She told the committee that prior to SPLAS the county would have taken about 47 years to resurface the full network at 30 miles per year; with SPLAS work completed in SPLAS 1 and the planned SPLAS 2 list, that timeframe is substantially reduced.

On costs, Allen said resurfacing is significantly more expensive than when SPLAS started: "At that time the average cost of resurfacing roads was $450,000 per mile...Currently, the average cost to resurface one mile of roadway is $900,000." She attributed much of the increase to oil and asphalt price volatility and said some contracts have exceeded $1 million per mile.

Chris Kingsbury, SPLAS program manager, explained procurement and site-level oversight. He said the county follows standard purchasing rules for contracts and serves as the owner’s field inspector: "Every day the contractor is working, there's an inspector watching him...The contractor doesn't get paid for anything unless we all sign off on it." Kingsbury described mix‑temperature tickets from plants, on‑site measurements of spread depth and rolling operations, and the use of engineer estimates and measured quantities to prepare bids.

On accountability and risk, staff said there are no blanket warranties because subsurface failures (broken storm lines, shallow utilities) can appear after milling; unforeseen repairs are handled through change orders and the county’s maintenance budget. Allen said the county addresses subsurface issues discovered during milling and that contracts are structured with estimated quantities to account for variability.

Budget context: presenters said two line items tied to resurfacing have approximate budgets of $23 million and $200 million (presented as program-level figures) and that the county applies its annual ELME grant (averaging $3.5–$5 million) alongside SPLAS funds. Kingsbury later summarized SPLAS 2 revenue as approximately $146 million collected versus $147 million projected as of March 31, and noted the board has authorized roughly $147 million in projects that are not all yet let.

Why it matters: the county’s rating system determines which streets are resurfaced first and informs engineering estimates and contract design. Staff emphasized inspection and documentation procedures to preserve pavement life and ensure payment is tied to accepted work. Allen noted the American Public Works Association has recognized the county’s rating method as a model practice.

Next steps: staff said the county will provide commissioners and committee members with the SPLAS lists and rating snapshots, will publish rating data on the updated county website as a seasonal snapshot, and will continue to bring contract updates for projects as they are let. The committee set a tentative two‑month meeting cadence and asked staff for follow‑up materials and written responses to several resident questions.

Ending: the presentation concluded and the committee moved into Q&A and public comment.