Fixing the 'dirty dozen'

The condition of Green River’s streets continues to degrade while money to mitigate degradation has evaporated over the years.

Many streets in Green River have degraded over the past decade. Mark Westenskow, public works director for the city, said street crews have done what they can with the budget they’re given, but they’re falling behind.

“We’re falling further and further behind with streets,” he said.

As communities start putting together lists of needed projects for an upcoming ballot initiative for a 6th penny special purpose tax, Westenskow is looking at what the costs would be to repair a number of streets he refers to as the “dirty dozen,” a group badly needing work. Streets in that list include areas of River View Drive, Bridger Drive, Indian Hills Drive and Wilkes Drive. Westenskow said two streets on that list in particular, Faith Drive and Evans Drive, have been on his to-do list for years.

So far, a loose estimate would be around $31 million to address the nine streets on his top priority list, though he quickly admits there are a lot of contingencies attached to that figure which could cause the actual cost to fluctuate away from that estimate. The biggest issue is construction inflation.

Westenskow said inflation for construction projects has resulted in price increases by anywhere between 10-40%. Cost increases with the city’s planned wastewater treatment facility resulted in project bids being rejected last year. While prices have started to stabilize, Westenskow said he is seeking more data regarding prices and keeping an eye on bid proposals submitted to state agencies to gauge how prices have changed.

However, regardless of how much prices have fluctuated, the cost regarding street maintenance has made doing anything substantial difficult. Slurry seal or cape seal projects meant to extend the life of streets are the department’s focus. Westenskow said the cost to completely rebuild a street is ten times larger than a cape seal project, resulting in decisions regarding how much longer a street could go without a rebuild if a cape seal or slurry seal is applied.

The sixth-penny infusion

Westenskow said additional funds from the sixth-penny taxes passed in 2002, 2005 and 2012 helped the city keep up with street replacement projects. Initially, a sixth-penny specific purpose tax was proposed in 2020, but abandoned due to concerns about taxing residents during a pandemic.

Streets were a major portion of that proposal for Green River.

A meeting at the Sweetwater County Courthouse amongst representatives of municipal governments and small