"The Pavenator" wins the mascot naming shoot-out, leads new web site

Remember that cartoon character that the City rolled out a few weeks back as the symbol of progress on road pavin' and pothole fixin'?

It's got a name now: "The Pavenator," courtesy of De'Mar Glasper, a fifth-grader at Burton IB Elementary here in the Bull City.

Not a bad nickname, kid, though the joke possibilities remain endless. Road not fixed quick enough? It's because the Pavenator said, "Ahhl be baaack." Also, do note that Pavenator rhymes nicely with procrastinator.

Joking aside, the naming contest's end coincides with the launch of Durham's new road paving web site, DurhamOperationGreenLight.org.

It's a useful site, too; among other things, it provides the rankings, from zero (worst) to 100 (best), of the condition of City streets based on a methodology developed by NC State and used by many cities in N.C.

During last night's City Council meeting, Mayor Bell stated that the City would be paving streets from the worst to the best. Helpfully, the Operation Green Light web site also lists what streets have recently been repaved, allowing visitors to see how their streets rank against others in Durham.

Note that only city-maintained roads have statuses listed; that's because NCDOT manages the pavement on the remaining roads in Durham, given the predominant role of the state in maintaining North Carolinaroads.

356 street segments are scheduled to be resurfaced; all but nine of those segments rank 50 or below on the scale. Currently funded paving work focuses on segments rated 30 and below. A total of 200 miles out of the City's 660 miles of pavement currently require repaving.

Comments

[David Rollins]

"The Procrastinator" fits better, and I submit will get more popular given the city's trend of passing bond issues for work that never gets done (e.g., the parks bond).

Thankfully The Pavenator is ineligible to run for president (I think he was born in Mexico).

[Joshua Allen]

I think I understand now why it seems no streets are getting repaved. After visiting the web site, I realize that often single blocks are getting repaved instead of whole streets. This may be a "smart" attempt to spend money but I think it's an utter failure of the program.

Here's an example: A block of Englewood Ave was repaved where it dead-ends. This block was in bad shape but the whole street is in bad shape. How many people actually use the block where it dead ends? 5 or 6... ? They should have repaved the whole street because it is in awful shape, but I guess they just chose the block that ranked lowest on their score.

Thankfully, a few of the other blocks are scheduled to be repaved in the future, but it seems like this approach is going to leave us with a patchwork of repairs.

Also, it seems that traffic count is not taken into account at all when prioritizing this work. The street highest on my personal list for repaving is 9th Street and it did not even make the City's cut. It is in really bad shape. If you don't think so, try driving it between Hillsborough and Club. It may not be as bad as some other streets in town but is certainly more travelled than a lot of the ones receiving attention.

Oh well, I'm sure the Pavenator will fix everything! He does have superpowers, right?

[Ross Grady]

So glad to see that the moonscape they call a "street" where I live (W. Main between the loop and Duke St) doesn't even *have* a number. Apparently that means, according to the website, it's either "not surveyed or not a city maintained street." I don't know about the survey, but if we're going to judge solely based upon the actual level of city maintenance, I'd buy the second assertion.

[barry]

Unpaved streets remain the best and most effective traffic calming tool in the city's arsenal, so i'm not complaining one bit.

Still, though, the notion that the city is using a sex toy with a belt and boots as a mascot for anything is so wonderful that it almost leaves me speechless.

[weege]

I agree on 9th St and they are only paving a block of Green St in OWD?! The stretch of Green St. between Broad & Buchanan is in horrible condition.

At least we can now blame our lost hubcaps and busted shocks on the Pavenator.

[Todd]

There is something seriously wrong with their pavement survey. W Murray Ave between Broad St and Duke St (behind Costco) is incredibly rough, with more patches than original pavement, yet it is rated 67/73 on the pavement survey. A short section on either end of this stretch was repaved recently, but the worst part is not even on the schedule.

I also wonder where the City is spending money provided annually by NCDOT through the Powell Bill. Durham was allocated $6.1 million in Powell Bill money, according to this release from Oct 1:

https://apps.dot.state.nc.us/pio/releases/details.aspx?r=1879
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"“This funding helps cities and towns pay for maintenance, repair, construction, widening and sidewalks on city-owned streets,” Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett said. “With most budgets strained, this infusion of Powell Bill money really provides key assistance to our communities for needed transportation improvements.”

Legislation passed last year also allows municipalities to use Powell Bill funds to help pay for projects included in NCDOT’s seven-year Statewide Transportation Improvement Program."
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$6 million should pay for 30 miles or so of street repaving - if that is what it is spent on.

[Valerie]

Wow, my street is apparently really really really poor according to the ranking. I had no idea. I'm not sure we even have a pothole; maybe a tiny one. But it is marked up for repaving, so I think that must be happening soon.

[AR]

My neighbors parking on the street instead of their driveway used to annoy me- until I realized that their parked cars slow passing traffic. Likewise, the bumps on neighborhood street used to annoy me, until I realized that they discouraged cut through traffic. You have to be careful of what you wish for!

[KeepDurhamDifferent!]

Barry wins the thread. Here's to potholes, the poor man's traffic calming (it warms a libertarian's heart to boot).

[Dave W.]

crappy roads are one way of traffic calming fersure...

...but an especially annoying road feature that makes cycling more difficult/jarring.

I would imagine if the city had better roads there'd be a big uptick in the number of people willing to try cycling more often for errands and commuting.