Calimesa council backs Avenue L-focused pavement plan and approves AI pavement-survey tool

The Calimesa City Council on June 1 directed staff to proceed with a pavement program that staff said fits the city's FY2026–27 pavement budget and centers on Avenue L and nearby residential streets.

City Engineer Mike Thorne described the city's pavement inventory (44 miles) and funding sources, and demonstrated Viollettics, a cloud-based, AI-assisted pavement-management platform that uses smartphone imagery to produce a pavement condition index. Thorne said the system collects imagery "every 10 feet" while crews perform routine work and converts the photos into PCI scores and map layers staff can use to prioritize projects. "Smartphone picks up data every 10 feet," Thorne said during the demo.

Staff presented seven alternatives sized to the roughly $1.3 million pavement budget, ranging from concentrated arterial work to grouped neighborhood repairs. Alternatives were grouped by geography and treatment type (full removal-and-replacement for PCI<40; grind/overlay or slurry for higher PCI bands). The council discussed enforcement of truck routes, the availability of CFD funding for Singleton Heights, and pending federal earmark funding the city manager said could cover portions of Calimesa Boulevard in a future cycle.

After deliberation the council narrowed the options and voted to approve Alternative 3 as presented — the Avenue L–focused grouping — and directed staff to proceed with design and to return with a proposed five-year pavement plan and additional cost options. Council asked staff to consider clustering to improve mobilization efficiency and to use available CFD funds where appropriate for specific neighborhoods.

Why it matters: The vote sets the FY2026–27 pavement workload and signals the council's preference for addressing a high-traffic arterial (Avenue L) in the near term while staff develop longer-range, multi-year pavement strategies.

Implementation notes: Staff said the Viollettics implementation and survey cost was budgeted as part of the program and that the software will provide ongoing pavement-condition mapping and sign/striping inventories for maintenance work orders. The city will return with final project limits, cost allocations, and a resolution to accept the SP1 fund reporting package required by July 1.

Sources: City Engineer Mike Thorne; City Manager Will Cobalt; staff presentation to Calimesa City Council, June 1, 2026.