Road infrastructure has been the talk of the town in Montgomery for the last several months, as the town board considers ways to address the area’s poor road conditions. What should the town do about the cracks, potholes and other hazards that plague local drivers?

Enter Pavement Management Group, a road analysis company that the board partnered with in early March. After studying every route in Montgomery, including the three villages, the company shared its findings with the board last Wednesday, August 7, providing a starting point for the town’s road recovery.

“We’re pleased to be here tonight to present our final report on the Pavement Management Program project that we undertook for the Town of Montgomery,” said Howard Mills, a PMG partner and former Town of Wallkill Supervisor. “I’m very excited for you being the first town in the State of New York to adopt this program.

Mills and James Golden, CEO and founder of PMG, introduced the town’s Pavement Management Program, a colored map detailing every town road and their distresses, or conditions. Each road was graded on a scale of one to five, with one indicating minimal conditions and five indicating severe conditions.

“First, we identify the distresses in each of the pavement sections in your town roads. Once we identify that, we take a look at the severity level. Is it a low, medium, or high situation? Is this crack low, medium, or high?” Golden said. “Once we identify that, we quantify it. How much of this issue is occurring throughout the pavement section? That information goes into our calculator to give us the number, so it’s very objective in nature.”

After averaging all the road distresses, PMG determined that Montgomery’s PCI, or pavement condition index, was 64 out of 100, indicating fair road conditions across the town. Golden noted that this number is the same as New York State’s overall PCI, as evaluated by the American Society of Civil Engineers. With this information in mind, PMG can recommend the necessary repairs and costs for each road, helping the board consider the best spending practices for future budgets.

“Once we qualify these roadways for the right type of maintenance and repair activity, we’re going to have fun. We start taking a look at budgets and think about our investments,” Golden said. “What am I getting for that $700K? What about targets? What if we spent 10% more next year? What if we added 20% of our budget toward preservation? What would the impact be? That’s pavement management.”

The town board can review PMG’s report using the company’s RoadINsights, an interactive dashboard that allows the user to view, sort, and specify information on the map. The tool’s best feature is video recordings of every town road, giving the board up-close references of hazardous conditions.

“The whole goal of all of this is to extend the life of that asset. You paid a lot of money for it, and roads are expensive,” Golden said. “What can we do to extend the life of these roadways and provide a smoother mode of transportation? RoadINsights gives all the data sets to be able to do that.”

Mills added that this program could be passed on to future boards, giving them the tools and information to be proactive when maintaining the town’s roads. He speculated that the town’s partnership with PMG could set a precedent for neighboring municipalities to follow suit, further expanding road recovery efforts in Orange County.

“What I get excited about is when the town adopts this program, it can create a legacy to pass on to future town boards,” Mills said. “If you adopt this type of program and you stick with it, it will demonstrably improve your road, maximize the taxpayer investment, and pass it on.”

Town Supervisor Steve Brescia thanked the two for their report, adding that he and the board look forward to working with PMG.