The City of Clovis is located in eastern New Mexico and is the county seat of Curry County. It is a mainly agricultural community located approximately ten miles from the Texas border with a population of 38,000 residents.
Prior to Michelin Better Roads, public works crews would assess the condition of their 260-mile road network manually by closing down sections of it and performing a visual inspection. This process was time consuming, and the road closures were inconvenient for residents. Because of the technical jargon associated with pavement assessments, city officials could not adequately describe why they made particular pavement decisions to their residents.
A section of the City is located in an Arroyo, Spanish for dry creek bed, that is prone to flooding and causes the pavement to deteriorate quicker. The City of Clovis needed an efficient, transparent, and objective solution for assessing their roads.
In December 2019, the City partnered with Michelin Better Roads to map their street conditions. Their goal was twofold: they wanted to increase transparency with their residents about road maintenance decisions, and secondly, they needed to map road conditions along with floodplain maps to determine whether to build in drainage or elevate the roads above the floodplain.
The City of Clovis chose Michelin Better Roads because of the simplicity of the 1-5 rating system, where 1 equates to ‘no or minor surface distress’ and 5 is ‘major surface damage and/or critical fatigue issues’.’ They also liked that the data could be easily interpreted and the color-coded assessment map could be shared with residents.
Like many local governments, the City of Clovis must allocate their limited resources to rehabilitating the worst roads first before developing a long-term plan to repair newer roads – and that is exactly how they are approaching their pavement planning.
On the Michelin Better Roads 1-5 rating scale, the City of Clovis’ 260-mile road network is in fair condition with a rating of 3.26. Of all roads, 39% (equating to 101 miles) are rated a 4 or 5. Their plan is to rehabilitate the 4- and 5-rated roads first and use Michelin Better Roads’ rating system and maps to help their residents understand why City officials chose those roads. To accomplish the City’s transparency goal, Clovis posted the pavement condition and project maps on the City’s website.
Metropolitan Redevelopment AreasPavement assessment data from Michelin Better Roads was not only used to help the City of Clovis determine a pavement management plan, it is also being used in an ongoing capital improvement project. Shortly after the partnership with Michelin Better Roads formed, Clovis received a grant from the New Mexico Metropolitan Redevelopment Code to identify blighted areas for investment and redevelopment. Clovis identified two areas, each designated as a Metropolitan Redevelopment Area (MRA), to focus their efforts.
The MRAs are located in an older part of town that has struggled to retain businesses in recent years. The purpose of the project is to stimulate economic growth by redeveloping the business district and surrounding area to attract new businesses and improve the lives of residents.One of the first steps of the project was to survey residents and business owners to better understand their grievances.
The City acknowledges the feedback and understands that as they move forward with the revitalization project, road conditions should not be ignored. As a result, the Michelin Better Roads pavement assessment data was included as a way to illustrate road work that will be completed in the MRA. While the MRA project is ongoing, the City of Clovis is making steady and positive progress to improve how the areas are viewed by residents and travelers passing through.
