New software will give the City of Decorah a better picture of what roads and what potholes should be fixed first

The 2018 Pavement Condition Report for streets near downtown Decorah.

The City of Decorah has begun using software developed by Iowa State University to give it a better picture of what condition local roads are in.

The software is called the "Pavement Condition Index."  It is based on work done by a contractor for the Iowa Department of Transportation.  The contractor outfitted a truck with measuring instruments which enabled it to get data about whether a street was in good condition or poor condition.

Decorah City Engineer Jeremy Bril says the new software "is a really nice tool" for providing a numerical rating for each block of each street in Decorah.  Those figures will be used by the City of Decorah's Street Committee to plot which street projects should have a priority.

Bril says other factors will be taken into account, however.  Figures about daily traffic counts will be used to determine which streets get the heaviest use and might be given priority for repairs.  The Pavement Condition Index will also give city officials a reading of which streets can be rehabbed to extend the life of the street, saving on having to pay the higher price of a complete reconstruction.

Notes Bril, "This data is made available for free to communities through a partnership between the Iowa DOT and the Iowa Pavement Management Program (IPMP) which is affiliated with Iowa State University.

Visit https://ctre.iastate.edu/ipmp/ipmp-web-portal/ and enter a Decorah address for an interactive map that shows the Pavement Condition Index (PCI) of the streets in Decorah. You will need to zoom in on Decorah.