Pulaski County plans to begin conducting its first-ever assessment of the 1,100 miles of roads within the county's jurisdiction this year.
The process -- called "pavement distress collection" -- usually consists of engineers surveying roads, taking photos and conducting other assessments to determine the condition of each road. Then, each road is compiled on a list that determines priority roadwork needs.
Interim Road and Bridge Department Director John Burton said county officials are not looking at roads for specific problems but are mostly looking to create a list of roads that need special attention.
Burton said such assessments can save money later on in maintenance.
"If you don't let them distress too much, then it's cheaper to rehab," he said.
Burton said such assessments never used to be cost-effective, but now counties, cities and universities across the country are beginning to conduct them more often.
Association of Arkansas Counties spokesman Scott Perkins said he did not believe it was common for counties in Arkansas to conduct such assessments.
However, the state Highway and Transportation Department has done "pavement distress collections" on its thousands of miles of state highways.
The five companies that submitted proposals for the assessment in Pulaski County are Greenberg-Farrow of Atlanta; D-Vision Systems of Brooklyn; Engineering & Research International of Savoy, Ill.; Infrastructure Management Services of Tempe, Ariz.; and Data Transfer Solutions of Plano, Texas.
An estimated cost of such an assessment is unknown to the evaluating committee, But Burton believes the cost will be less than $1 million.
The Pulaski County Road and Bridge Department has a 2015 general fund budget of $22 million, although it is funded by state and federal revenue on top of that amount.
Metro on 05/01/2015