Dam Question

The Dam is located in the City of Lake Mills just west of S Main Street and north of Veterans Lane. The dam is on Rock Creek and impounds Rock Lake. Rock Lake is a natural drainage lake which has a few inlets and one outlet. In 1865, a mill dam was constructed for the purposes of hydraulic power production. This mill ceased operation in 1933 and the mill property was sold to the City of Lake Mills in 1935. In 1940, the location of the dam was moved to the outlet of the millpond where it remains today.

The dam consists of a four-foot-diameter corrugated metal pipe outfall regulated by timber stoplogs. A concrete intake structure with a trash rack that is located upstream from the outfall. There are concrete wingwalls on either side of the intake structure.

The stoplogs consists of 5 boards that are each about 4 feet long and 6 inches wide. The bottom board is not taken out because it is too hard to extract due to the force of the water. That bottom board sits in a concrete base so that about 3 inches of the board is in the water path. Therefore, there are 27 inches of restricted flow by the boards in the dam. Besides the dam, the other water flow confinement is the culvert that is just downstream from the dam. This culvert is 4 feet in diameter.

Debris that collects in front on the trash rack can significantly hinder the flow of water through the dam. City staff is responsible for removing trash every day.

The dam has a very small capacity compared to the size of the lake. Therefore, the City has to maintain the water level at the median of the allowable range.

The lake is about 1,371 acres in size. One inch of lake water is about 5 million cubic feet. The dam, if fully open, can pass about 45 cubic feet per second. Therefore it takes about 72 hours with all boards out of the dam to lower the lake one inch. This calculation does not take into account precipitation, evaporation, runoff from the watershed, or groundwater flow. Therefore, draining off one inch from the lake after a one inch rainfall will take longer than 72 hours.

There is a grate, or trash rack, located just upstream of the dam that blocks debris from flowing through the dam structure. The debris is scheduled to be cleaned out every week day by the City of Lake Mills. Debris in front of the dam has been shown to significantly hinder the water flow through the dam.

The water level regime of the lake set by the DNR generally mimics what the levels would be if there was no dam: lows in the winter, rising levels in the spring, diminishing levels in the fall. However, there are a couple distinct differences - the natural levels would not be as high without the dam; and the natural levels would have more variation and from time to time would have much more drastic highs and lows.

The first option the Council may want to consider is removing the dam; the DNR can't make anyone to keep their dam. They can require repairs and the dam owners’ response can be to repair or remove the dam. A dam owner can apply to remove the dam without any need for dam repairs. In the process of removing a dam, others wishing to own the dam with the financial capability to do so, can come forward to make a deal. A municipality can only transfer ownership to another governmental entity with taxing authority like a town, county, or lake district.

If the Council wants to keep the dam, it should consider management type improvements to the dam. A lake level monitor that can be checked anywhere online and can email notices of high or low water levels. An automatic trash cleaner can save many man hours and overtime costs. The type of gate used can make adjusting the level easier. Modifying the outfall from a corrugated metal pipe to a channel can make this repair last much longer. Combining the removal of the old shoe factory and restoring the ditch will significantly reduce the hazard level rating and make the Highway “89” project easier to design.

S Main Street

INTRODUCTION

The City has asked that WisDOT initiate and effect the State Highway “89” improvement from Madison Street south to Topel Street. State Highway “89” is a connecting highway with significant deterioration of the existing asphalt overlay which is over concrete in portions of the roadway. The work will consist of reconstructing the existing roadway and extending the urban curb and gutter section where none currently exists.

The State has extended a contract to the City to complete the work with the conditions specified in the agreement included in the packet.

BACKGROUND

The State manages major reconstruction project for the Street and the City is responsible for regular maintenance. Major reconstruction should occur about once every twenty to thirty years depending on street condition. The last major reconstruction of S. Main Street by the State occurred in the 1950s. A portion from Veterans Lane to Madison Street was rebuilt by the State in 1962. The City’s last major project was in 1992-93 with lane overlays from Sandy Beach Road to Veterans Lane. The City also completed a project from Veterans Lane to Madison Street in 1998. N. Main Street was reconstructed in 1999 by the State.

Duane Vandemausse with the City’s consulting engineers had communicated with Mike Rewey of WisDOT in 2001 regarding a potential reconstruction of S. Main Street because of interest in a sidewalk project on the street. Staff was informed that the project could be in 2010. The date kept moving back until we were informed that the project was no longer on the list. In that time period there were a substantial number of retirements and position changes. In 2012, City staff requested a meeting with the current staff to discuss the project.

City staff met with Michelle Ellias and Karen Olson from WisDOT to discuss a potential State Highway “89” project (S. Main Street). The conversation went very well and was very informative. The needs and estimate summary prepared by WisDOT noted that the existing roadway is a connecting highway with cracked and rutted pavement. It has been milled and overlaid on past projects but needs a higher level improvement with the last rebuild occurring prior to 1950. Roadway width varies from 40 feet face to face of curb, to variable widths of around 34 feet where there are rural cross sections on the south side of the project. There is parking on both sides of S. Main Street for the full length of the project.

The proposed Improvement and nature of work include replacing pavement, curb and gutter, and storm sewer. There will be an evaluation of intersections for signals or roundabouts, and lane designations. The project will add pedestrian and bicycle accommodations per Trans 75 (Complete Streets) requirements, where feasible.

The expected construction start date is the spring of 2020.  If funding becomes available this project could be constructed sooner, but several years would still be needed for design, permitting, and right-of-way acquisition (if needed). 

There are features of the project work that would be non-participating work which will be undertaken independently by the municipality. These include construction of pavement utilized for parking, utility improvements and overruns of capped aesthetic funding (if the city decides to use CSS funds).  The utility improvements (sanitary sewer and water main) could be constructed concurrently with the DOT project in order to eliminate the need for temporary roadway restoration.  The utilities are currently old and undersized and need to be replaced to accommodate the ultimate service needs of the City. 

ISSUE

This agreement is the preliminary document that gets a six year process started. Within that time period the design and economic conditions will change and this agreement will have to flex with those changes. The estimated City’s expenses are $2.5 million and include the utilities. This again is an estimate and subject to change as the State and City work through the final design of the project. Funding for the general fund portion of the project will be through general obligation bonds. City staff has structured our debt since 2001 to include this project. The major issue is that the project was anticipated to be in the 2010 to 2015 timeline and the debt is pushing into other major projects (Mulberry, Madison).

Staff has been working with the Council on meeting with our legislators to encourage additional funding to move the date of the project ahead. The March 5^th meeting will have a proposed resolution to cover some of these issues. The earliest the project could be completed if additional State funds where approved appears to be 2018.

Staff has already begun to evaluate the street after this year’s extensive freeze/thaw period to determine if we’ll recommend some maintenance improvement in 2014.

RECOMMENDATION

The street is well past the expected life cycle for the construction type and needs extensive improvements. I believe that the City must approve the agreement and start planning around this project.

Potholes and the Freeze/Thaw

A simple definition of a pothole:

“Any pavement defect involving the surface, or the surface and base, to the extent that it will cause significant noticeable impact on vehicle tires and vehicle handling.”

Asphalt is brittle in cold temperatures. When spring thaws saturate the soil that supports the asphalt, the pavement becomes vulnerable to cracking and breaking as heavy traffic passes over. The more severe the winter weather, the more likely it is there will be a pothole problem. The freeze-thaw cycle can be a very significant winter event associated with potholes.

The eastern United States experienced two severe winters, 1976-77 and 1977-78. The winter of 76-77 was bitterly cold and the winter of 77-78 was warmer and experienced record snowfalls. One of the most prominent and hazardous results of the winter of 77-78 over the winter of 76-77 was the large number of potholes in the roadways. This was associated with the large number of freeze – thaw cycles experienced during the wetter/warmer winter. A freeze – thaw cycle is defined as when the air temperature crosses 32° F and then returns to the original side.

Lake Mills’ winter of 2012-13 is regularly experiencing a freeze – thaw cycle. The conditions for potholes are prime. The advantage of all these freeze – thaw cycles is that it reduces the possibility of flooding this spring, but on the other hand, many of the roadways are going to need significant work.

Four causes of potholes:

1.    Roads that have insufficient thickness to support traffic during winter/spring thaw cycles without localized failures.

2.    Poor drainage, which will usually cause failure in combination with thin pavements, but can also affect thick pavements and new overlays.

3.    Failures at utility trenches and castings.

4.    Miscellaneous paving defects and cracks left unmaintained or unsealed from water intrusion.

When water and traffic are present at the same time, potholes form in two ways: fatigue failure and raveling failure.

Fatigue failures produce classic, bowl-shaped potholes when water weakens the soil under the pavement and traffic flexes the asphalt up and down until it breaks apart. This process is rare in thicker pavements (three to four inches) and common in thinner pavements of under three inches.

Raveling failures occur when water and traffic wear away adhesive asphalt films and stone aggregate from the surface of the road. Raveling is also common at the edge of the paved roadway or at cracks and joints where pavement has not been properly sealed. Potholes that maintenance crews have filled with cold mixes (liquid asphalt with solvents) on an emergency basis in cold weather often generate raveling failures.

Drainage
Poor drainage is a major contributor to pothole problems. Standing water and subsurface water weaken pavement support and contribute to heaves and cracking from frost penetration and freeze-thaw cycles. This year the large quantity of snow we received also prevented the gutters from being kept open. The maintenance of drainage features offers the greatest return for most municipalities in the spending of annual funds for maintenance of roads with regard to potholes.

There are several options for improving drainage. Preventive maintenance includes clearing debris and foliage from road storm drains, and culverts. Sometimes paved and lined ditches may be necessary for a permanent drainage solution. Curbs, storm drains, and street geometrics can help efficient movement of water away from the road. Street geometric or designs that provide for sloped pavements, adequate curb grades, adequately sized storm drains and sewer pipe sizes reduce the number of low spots and improve drainage.

In Lake Mills, our standard pavement specification is a minimum of six (6) inches of three (3) inch graded crushed limestone below the usual three (3) inches of ¾ inch crushed limestone base course prevents the capillary action of drawing groundwater toward the colder surface (similar to humidity condensing on a cold window).

Preventive Maintenance Programs and Pavement Inventories

A policy of only repairing potholes and blocked drains is not a maintenance program. Detecting early signs of roadway failure and taking prompt preventive maintenance action (crack filling and chip seal-coating) before potholes form can result in less expensive, more effective road maintenance. Using well-trained crews and limited funds to best advantage requires an expert inspector or engineering aide. Such experts are expensive, but their skill in identifying areas in need of attention will more than pay for them. Comprehensive inventorying of all roads in a local system by pavement type, thickness, and condition of roadway allows street departments to coordinate and prioritize maintenance efforts for maximum economy and effect.

Utility Cut Control

A study in New York City showed that utility locations accounted for more than 85 percent of pavement defects. This booklet recommended strictly enforced quality control requirements for pavement utility cuts and a first-class system for coordinating installation of underground utilities with roadway resurfacing programs. The latter will help prevent poor communication that can sometimes result in tearing up a road that one crew resurfaced in July for another crew to make utility improvements in August.

This report is probably high for Lake Mills, but we have our problems. Trenches and structures installed before or after the pavement will behave differently because the subgrade portion of the pavement system has been disturbed to a much greater depth than the surrounding pavement.

Intersections, Utility Castings, and Other Common Problem Areas

Intersections, manholes, and other utility castings are "major pothole generators." Numerous utility structures at intersections break up pavement continuity and weaken pavement strength. Starting, stopping, and turning traffic increases wear on intersection pavement. In addition, it is difficult to slope intersections for good drainage. The booklet suggested intersections could be improved by removing the top inch of pavement with a milling machine or heating the surface with infrared heaters. Crews can then rework (overlay) the surface to achieve a smooth finish that drains well.

Manholes and other utility castings require special attention to prevent severe breakout problems. For thin pavements, a five-foot-diameter transition area around a manhole that thickens the pavement to at least four inches, and preferably to the full casting depth of eight inches, may help prevent deterioration. Some success has been achieved by placing Portland cement concrete collars around castings and filling the top one or two inches with hot asphalt mix. The asphalt to concrete system does not work well in Wisconsin conditions though.

Repairing Potholes

The method that the City uses most often is "place and roll’ or "quick response" pothole patching. This method usually utilizes a two-man patch crew in a small dump truck assigned to repair potholes in specific areas in the city. The areas are assigned on the basis of traffic volume. Unlike quality patching, this type of repair is not intended to repair fatigued sections of pavement. Place and roll patching addresses an immediate need for filling potholes in the road with asphalt mix and making the road safe for the traveling public. City pothole patching crews can usually fix the majority of potholes before complaints are registered. We will attempt to fill the hole within 24 hours of notification at the Street Department and the weather allows. This type of response is needed to mitigate immediate risk to vehicles traveling on a city-paved road. Without this type of response, frequent vehicular damage from driving through potholes could occur.

Repair of potholes by place and roll patching is accomplished by:

1.    Cleaning the hole with a broom (if needed).

2.    Shoveling a pavement repair material into the pothole to the correct depth.

3.    Raking the material smooth unless a self leveling material is used.

4.    Compacting the asphalt mix by rolling the patch with the tires of the patch truck, using a vibratory plate compactor, or (with very small holes) using a hand compaction device.

Work zones for this type of work are categorized as "moving" work zones. Traffic lane closures are not needed.

This type of pothole patch repair can last from a low of one day up through several years. How long the patch will last depends upon the quality of the material used and the environment that the patching material is placed in. Water infiltration into any asphalt patch material will greatly decrease the life of the patch. The life of a patch repair will frequently be short when the material is placed in potholes on severely deteriorated roads in wet weather conditions.

"Quality patching" is used to repair larger damaged or fatigued areas of asphalt pavement. The damaged pavement section can include:  multiple potholes, "alligator" or "block" cracking, pavement raveling, pavement rutting, or pavement shoving. Quality patching is usually utilized to repair a road section larger than a single pothole.

A four-man crew or larger is usually used to perform quality patch repairs depending on equipment and traffic. Equipment frequently utilized to perform this function includes: backhoe, pavement cutter or pavement grinder, dump truck to haul excavated material and to haul materials used for the repair (base gravel and asphalt), a steel drum roller or plate compactor, and a utility truck and trailer to transport the roller and needed work zone traffic control devices.

Quality patch repairs are accomplished by:

1.    Diggers Hotline must be contacted three days before any work is started.

2.    Square out and remove the area around pavement distress with either a pavement cutter or pavement grinder.

3.    Remove old asphalt pavement and, in some instances, the base material.

4.    Asphalt mix will be placed into the excavated repair area to a depth that will be compacted level with the surrounding existing pavement surface.

5.    The asphalt mix will be raked smooth.

6.    The asphalt mix will then be compacted to an acceptable density with a plate compactor or small steel drum roller.

Because of the equipment needed for the repair, traffic control devices for work zone safety, in accordance with the Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), must be in place before quality patch work is started. Traffic lane closures are almost always needed for quality patching. This, in turn, mandates traffic channelization or the establishment of detour routes. Flaggers may be needed in high traffic volume areas.

Pavement repair accomplished by this method will always last longer than a "place and roll" patch. When conducted on hot mix roads with a majority of the road asphalt surface in good shape, quality patch repairs are generally preferable to place and roll patching.

Any repair patch or street cut in a paved road surface is considered by definition to be pavement distress. A quality patch performed using proper construction methods and under the best conditions does not restore the asphalt pavement to its original structural integrity. At best, a quality patch will downgrade a high severity distress condition to a low severity pavement distress. On roads with marginal asphalt mat surfaces or with base problems, the process of quality patching can actually damage the asphalt surface outside of the patch area. When this happens, the quality patch will be good, but the asphalt surface surrounding the patch will disintegrate. Road damage can, in effect, spread from the repaired area.

Quality patch pavement repairs require utilization of a significantly larger crew than what is needed for "place and roll" pothole patching. Response time for this type of repair will be much slower than a "place and roll" patch. More manpower and equipment resources are needed to conduct the work. A quality patch repair of a distressed road section will take much longer to complete than a "place and roll" pothole patch. A repair that might take five minutes for a "place and roll" response repair might take an hour or longer to fix as a quality patch. The quality patch usually is requires hot mix asphalt which is not available in Wisconsin until mid to late May.

TID Amendment

TID No. 4 Amendment No. 2 allows the City to attract development with higher and better, community-serving land uses, especially when combined with other underdeveloped properties in this area. The inclusion of the new land will enable the City to fully promote the orderly development of this gateway. This new vacant parcel will focus on providing larger land assemblages (as shown on Map 1: Amended District Boundary) that afford mixed-use land uses, create tax base where no improvements are currently, create jobs, provide common parking areas, provide safer vehicular and pedestrian movement in this intersection area, and upgrade the visual image to the community. All of these activities are necessary to help with the vitality of the remainder of the community, specifically the Downtown and Business Park.

Another issue that impedes the logical and orderly growth of the City is the fact that there are a significant number of properties that are currently in the Town but are interspersed among properties within the City of Lake Mills. The City, through TID No. 4, will focus on logically developing properties within the TID No. 4 boundary and through implementation of redevelopment projects, the Town property owners may eventually see the logic in petitioning for annexation so that growth can proceed in an orderly manner.

With the implementation of the Opportunity Analysis recommendations and TID No. 4 and Redevelopment District No. 2 project plans, the City can realize the potentials presented in TID No. 4 which will then help to promote the orderly development of the entire community.

Street Budget Category

AGENCY: Public Works

DEPARTMENT: Streets

SUBAGENCY: Street Sweeping

DEPARTMENT HEAD: Paul Hermanson, Director

FISCAL YEAR: January 1, 2014 – December 31, 2014

PURPOSE: To provide for pavement sweeping to remove sand and litter from streets and curb gutters. Sweeping also reduces dust during dry weather. Street sweeping is also storm sewer maintenance practice because it limits sediment washed into stormwater facilities. Water quality practices for street sweeping focus on sediment disposal. Reducing the amount of sediment washed into catch basins, detention facilities, drywells, and other facilities can save money because sweeping is generally cheaper than removing sediment from facilities. Sweeping also helps protect facilities from clogging with sediment.

RESPONSIBILITIES: This budget provides for: the city will sweep streets once every two weeks or on dates as determined by weather, special events or pavement work; develops routes for street sweeping based on parking, street width, traffic volume and environmental features; sweeper is inspected to ensure that it is working according to the manufacturers specifications; most effective sweeping occurs at the curb line and efforts should be made to sweep when street parking is light because parking reduces the pollutants swept; environmental hotspots have been identified and considered when sweeping is scheduled. Temporary storage areas are contained and disposed of regularly; sweeper bin is washout in a contained area; hours, miles and loads of debris are recorded daily; employees are trained in stormwater pollution prevention and the city will sweep streets after paving activities to remove loose aggregate.

STAFF: The various activities that are covered by street sweeping comprise approximately 7% of the Department’s time.

The program uses a mechanical wet brush street sweeper, used to sweep streets; equipment operator that is capable and qualified to operate the street sweeper; mechanic is responsible for the repair and maintenance of the equipment used during street sweeping operations; foreman is responsible for coordinating all activities during street sweeping operations; superintendent plans, monitors and adjusts street sweeping based on policy and conditions. Coordinates with City Hall on event based street sweeping plans and properly landfill materials for pollutant disposal.

Many of the Department's operations in this category are seasonal in nature. Peak manpower needs of this Division are met with the use of temporary personnel.

Total Employee Hours (Estimated) 1,092.