Brenham street repair backlog grows to 25%, prompts calls to increase funding
BRENHAM — The Brenham City Council received an extensive street update on Thursday outlining the system’s condition index, an expanding maintenance backlog, and future infrastructure funding needs.
BRENHAM — The Brenham City Council received an extensive street update on Thursday outlining the system’s condition index, an expanding maintenance backlog, and future infrastructure funding needs.
Presenting data from a comprehensive street inventory evaluation, Public Works Director Dane Rau explained that despite annual maintenance investments, the city’s overall street health has slightly declined over the past six years.
“As you can see, in 2020 our PCI [Pavement Condition Index] overall scoring was 59%,” Public Works Director Dane Rau said. “So after spending $1.2 million year after year after year after year and doing some minor maintenance with our O&M money, we actually dropped two points in 2026 for our overall system.”
The study evaluated 89 miles of the city's approximately 130 miles of roadway, excluding newer concrete sections. Results revealed that 50% of Brenham's street network remains in excellent, very good, or good condition, with 11% listed as fair, and 39% categorized as marginal, poor, or very poor.
However, the percentage of roadways considered "poor" or "very poor" (a PCI under 40) increased significantly from 14% in 2020 to 25% today. Rau explained that without mid-level preventative care, marginal streets deteriorate rapidly into severe repair categories.
“In order to reduce our backlog and increase our PCI, additional funds beyond $1.2 million will be needed in future budget years,” Rau said, pointing out that current funding allows the city to tackle an average of 2.5 miles of roadway annually.
Mayor Atwood Kenjura asked about recent jackhammering along sidewalks, and some damage done to the sidewalks as a result. Rau explained that the tearing up of concrete was due to ADA compliance errors made by a contractor on a TxDOT project, noting that the work falls under TxDOT’s jurisdiction rather than the City of Brenham. Rau was under the impression that this was an error specific to the contractor, and not a reflection of TxDOT or the work that they do.