Streets

Street Division

The Street Maintenance Division is responsible for the maintenance and repair of approximately 446 lane miles of city roadways in addition to right-of-ways, sidewalks, alleys, curbs and gutters, city-owned parking lots, drainage, and independent storm sewer facilities. This division also handles snow and ice control.  Street Maintenance maintains more than 3,000 traffic signs and 6,000 storm inlets. This division coordinates the work associated with City street restoration and rehabilitation coupled with the Municipal Aid Program (MAP).  Although lights are occasionally added to existing roadways, the majority of new lights come from new developments.  If you have a question, contact the Engineering and Public Works Departments at 270-444-8511.


Related Code of Ordinances 

Duties of abutting property owners regarding maintenance within right-of-way (Paducah Code of Ordinances 98-31)

Sidewalk Replacement Agreement (Paducah Code of Ordinances 98-32)

Driveway Entrance Pipes (Paducah Code of Ordinances 98-33) 


Report a Pothole Through Paducah 311

Through an app and online portal, we are enhancing the public’s experience by providing more ways to request a service, report issues, or ask a question.  To report a pothole on a City street through Paducah 311, click the button link, click "Create a new Request," and select "Potholes" as the request type.  Reports can be made through the app, too!  Learn more about Paducah 311.

 Paducah 311 - Report a Pothole


Regional Transportation Planning

Visit Transportation Plan to learn more about the transportation planning process between the City, County, and State.


Street Rehabilitation

Pavement Management Program

Contract for Pavement Inspections

The City approved a multi-year contract in November 2021 with Bacon Farmer Workman Engineering & Testing (BFW) to perform pavement inspections on City streets using the PAVER software program This five year contract is to update the detailed pavement inspections completed in 2018 which inspected all 223 miles of Paducah’s streets. This contract provides an  inspection of 20 percent of the streets each year and the development of street rehabilitation plans.

BFW is developing the 2024-2026 Street Rehabilitation Plan for the City. It costs, on average, approximately $635,000 per mile to completely rehabilitate a street including drainage and sidewalks. The City is working with BFW to develop a plan to increase the street ratings so that the rehabilitation efforts will begin to outpace the rate of deterioration.

About the PAVER Software

For each representative street segment, crews gather data to determine the Pavement Condition Index (PCI) rating which is used with the software program, PAVER.  By gathering data on factors such as pavement roughness, cracking types, edge of pavement cracking, potholes, swelling, depressions, each street is assigned a PCI value between 0 and 100 with 100 representing the best possible condition of a street. Moving from pavement maintenance to this pavement management system allows the City to objectively identify streets most in need of repair strictly from a pavement condition and engineering perspective.  Streets receiving a rating of 65 or lower need rehabilitation.

The PAVER software is a robust system that not only pinpoints streets in serious need of repair but also identifies unseen problems that lead to the demise of a street.  Engineering research has shown that repairing small-scale problems in pavement and correcting the source of the pavement problems mainly by restoring positive drainage along the edge of a street’s curb and gutter can save significant money over time. Our goal is to address pavement problems while they are small-scale and before they lead to greater, more expensive issues. This PAVER software helps us accomplish our goals since it trouble-shoots problem areas and offers solution options. Solution options could include a steeper crown on the roadway to improve runoff or a change in the roadway’s design and elevation.

The PCI rating system along with the PAVER software published by Colorado State University is utilized in several cities across Kentucky in addition to large organizations including the United States Air Force, United States Army Corps of Engineers, and Federal Highway Administration.    

Completed Road Rehabilitation Projects, 2016 through 2020

Click the button to see the street rehabilitation and paving projects completed from 2016 through 2020.  The map legend also provides the total costs spent in each calendar year associated with the street projects.

 Completed Roadway Rehabilitation 2016-2020

Street Rehabilitation Factors

When reviewing a street to determine if it should be selected for rehabilitation, the entire right-of-way infrastructure is evaluated.  The evaluation considers the conditions of the pavement, curbs and gutters, and sidewalks.  The streets chosen each year for rehabilitation are not chosen solely based upon a low street ranking.  Other factors taken into consideration include

  • Traffic Impact – if a street has a high traffic flow, it is considered to be a higher priority.
  • Utility Work – If utility work is scheduled for a particular road, the street rehabilitation will be postponed until the utility projects are completed first.
  • New Economic Development or Construction Projects – The timing of completion of the construction of new buildings affects the rehabilitation of streets.  Repairing a street will be done after the construction work is completed.
  • Subdivision Rehabilitation Projects – When it becomes evident that several streets need to be rehabilitated within a subdivision, the project often becomes a large-scale subdivision rehab project (examples:  Morgan Cornell, Conrad Heights, Wallace Heights, Forest Hills).
  • Budget – The available funds and the estimated rehabilitation costs determine the amount of work that can be done each year.  The cost of materials also is a determining factor.  As the cost of asphalt per ton or concrete goes up, the amount of paving and concrete work that can be done using a set budget amount is reduced.  Paducah receives an allocation of funds from the Municipal Aid Program (MAP).  MAP funds are collected from the State gas tax and are allocated for maintenance, reconstruction or construction of City streets.  Paducah’s allocation of State gas tax funds averages between $400,000 and $600,000 a year.  The City then sets aside another half million or so dollars from the Investment Fund for the annual street resurfacing projects.    
Friendship Road/KY 1286 in McCracken County

The Friendship Road/KY 1286 project, estimated at $35 million, would lengthen, widen, and realign Friendship Road/KY 1286.  This corridor connects Paducah with Lone Oak and Hendron. 

Learn more about the Friendship Road/KY 1286 Project

Winter Weather Preparation

To learn about how the Street Division prepares for winter weather including the benefits of using brine, watch the following 4-minute Paducah View video.


Frequently Asked Questions

The City of Paducah maintains how many miles of roadway? 

The City of Paducah maintains 223 miles of roadway. In considering the number of lanes, Paducah actually ha 446 lane-miles of roadway. That number doesn’t take into account the alleys and the parking areas on the sides of some roads.

Which roads in Paducah are maintained by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet?

There is a misconception that if a road is within the city limits, then it is the responsibility of the City of Paducah government. Paducah has several State routes which means the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is responsible for their condition. The most highly traveled roads within the city that are the local government’s responsibility are Broadway and Jefferson Street. In general, the roads that have higher traffic volumes than Broadway or Jefferson are State routes. Some of the State routes are Kentucky Avenue, Irvin Cobb Drive, Park Avenue, Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Hinkleville Road, Old Mayfield Road, Lone Oak Road/Jackson Street, Cairo Road, HC Mathis Drive, Joe Clifton Drive, and sections of 8th and 13th Streets. 

Does the City of Paducah do maintenance for the State routes?

No, we don’t, but the City and State keep in close contact regarding any issues within the city limits. The State has independent contractors that do some storm inlet cleaning and street sweeping on a quarterly basis or as often as maintenance funds allow them to work. 

Regarding general maintenance such as keeping debris out of the curbs and gutters and drainage ways, there is a City of Paducah code (98-31) that places the responsibility on the adjacent property owner. So that we can concentrate on the quality of the roadways, we need the help of our citizens to keep edges of roadways clean. The City encourages getting trash, leaves, and debris out of gutters and keeping weeds from growing up along the edge of the roadway and into curbs and gutters. Weeds can end up breaking the pavement, reducing the lifespan of the road.

Sec. 98-31 - Duties of abutting property owners regarding maintenance within right-of-way. The property owner shall be responsible for maintaining, in a clean and sanitary condition, the sidewalks, ditches, curbs and gutters, driveway pipes, drainage pipes and unpaved/undeveloped portion of rights-of-way abutting such premises, and for keeping the aforementioned in good repair.

There are several traffic signals in Paducah.  Who is responsible for them?

Most of the roads in Paducah with traffic signals are State routes with the signals being the State’s responsibility. The City of Paducah is responsible for only 7 traffic signals including traffic signals on Broadway (at 9th, 13th, and 21st Streets) and on Jefferson Street (at 9th, 13th, and 17th Streets (flashing beacon)). We also have the signals at New Holt Road and Village Square Drive and James Sanders Boulevard and Pecan Drive.

Why do some streets have blue street signs instead of green ones? 

The idea comes from Lexington to designate private roads with blue signs. If a road is private, it is owned by one or more citizens, and they are responsible for its maintenance and rehabilitation. The City encourages folks who are moving to a location to ask their realtor, check the plat, or ask their title attorney about the status of their roadway. We have had several citizens who bought property and didn’t realize they now live on a private road. Usually we get calls after it snows because the City snow plows do not take care of private roads. 

One of the main reasons why a road stays private is that a subdivision developer did not build the road to City standards. Usually, the City will take over a roadway after the developer completes it to City standards. If it is not to City standards, then it remains the responsibility of the developer or the adjacent property owners via a homeowners’ association (HOA).

What is the process for repairing a pothole?

Since potholes can show up anytime, the repair process depends upon the time of year. If a pothole needs repairing between November and early April, we use an asphalt-based product called “cold mix.” It’s scooped into the pothole and packed down. It’s not intended to be a permanent fix. The goal of this product is to keep the pothole under control until warmer weather when it can be more thoroughly addressed. We have all seen potholes repaired with cold mix that crumbles into tiny pieces just weeks later. Once the asphalt plants open usually in early April, we can repair a pothole with hot mix. We determine the limits of the roadway deterioration and cut out an area larger than the original pothole. Then, we totally restore the area and use the hot mix, a more permanent solution. 

How much does the City of Paducah spend each year for road rehabilitation projects?

Paducah receives an allocation of funds from the Municipal Aid Program (MAP). MAP funds are collected from the State gas tax and are allocated for maintenance, reconstruction, or construction of City streets. Paducah’s allocation of State gas tax funds ranges around $400,000 to $600,000 a year. The City also sets aside annually approximately $750,000 from the Investment Fund for the street resurfacing and sidewalk projects. This sounds like a lot of money; however, in the past 20 years, milling costs and the price of asphalt have tripled. Road rehabilitation is expensive. To rehabilitate a roadway including drainage and associated sidewalks, it costs on average $635,000 per mile.