HASSO HERING

Temporary no-parking signs like this caught my eye Monday evening on Elm Street north of Queen.

The street maintenance projects in the city of Albany just keep coming. Now it’s the turn of 12 blocks of Elm Street to get a new layer of asphalt.

On a bike ride Monday evening, I noticed temporary no-parking notices on two blocks of Elm on the north side of Queen Avenue. Knife River, the paving contractor based in Tangent, placed the notices there.

I took them as a sign that Knife River was getting ready to work on the Elm Street project, which eventually will cover the entire street from Queen all the way north to Fifth Avenue.

This is a $1.2 million job that is supposed to be complete next summer. It calls for grinding down the asphalt along about 3,200 linear feet of street and replacing it with a two-inch layer of new pavement.

The job also includes replacing 68 curb ramps to make them comply with the current standards under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA.

In addition, the contractor is to replace about 600 feet of 30-inch storm drain.

This is the latest major repaving project in Albany over the last year or so.

The others, all completed, were Southeast Salem Avenue for $2.3 million, Southwest Washington Street for $3.5 million, North Albany Road for $656,000 and before that, last year, Southeast Clay and Geary streets and 14th Avenue for $2 million.

What about the much-reported argument that the city doesn’t have enough money for street repairs and needs a new revenue source, such as a street maintenance fee and a local gas tax?

The answer is that Albany spends what money it has each year to maintain or rehabilitate the busiest city streets. This preserves the arterials that bear the most traffic, thus benefiting the most people.

But this approach leaves nothing for rebuilding many of the local streets that have been falling apart for years. (hh)