Starkville’s City-Wide, Award-Winning Approach to Pavement Preservation

 This kind of proactive approach is at the heart of pavement preservation. Waiting until conditions become severe to treat roads is a “worst-first” approach proven to be more costly in the long run. Roads left to deteriorate ultimately require more disruptive maintenance compared to roads that have had proper preservation techniques applied.  

 Winner of both the 2026 Asphalt Emulsions Manufactures Association Past Presidents’ Award and the 2026 International Slurry Surfacing Association’s Excellence in Pavement Preservation Award, Starkville, Mississippi is proof of what a data-driven plan can do for a city’s roadway network. 

 With approximately 315 lane-miles to maintain, the City of Starkville’s Engineering Department knew that managing maintenance on a street-by-street basis would not be the most effective use of taxpayer money.  

 Starkville identified pavement preservation as a more economical alternative to reactive roadway repairs.    

 “Budgets aren’t infinite,” said Stan Williams, P.E., Ergon Asphalt & Emulsions (Ergon A&E) Regional Technical Marketing Manager. “If you’re always spending money on the worst roads, there’s no way to catch up. Starkville’s Engineering team recognized that and developed a plan to manage the entire network more efficiently.”   

   

Expanding the Pavement Preservation Toolbox 

 Starkville relied on traditional mill and overlay as its primary roadway maintenance strategy. While mill and overlay is an effective long-term treatment for roads in poor condition, it’s also one of the most expensive.  

 With an annual roadway maintenance budget of approximately $3.3 million, Starkville could only apply mill and overlay to a portion of its network each year. As a result, many roads would continue to age and deteriorate while waiting for rehabilitation.  

 While mill and overlay delivers strong results, it’s not the most practical or cost-effective treatment for every roadway. To improve overall network conditions, the City needed a strategy that matched the right treatment to the right road at the right time. 

 “Historically, we had only one treatment in our toolbox, and that was an asphalt mill and overlay,” said Stephen Kachelman, City of Starkville Project Engineer. “By expanding our pavement preservation toolbox, we’ve been able to put more life into our network and better maintain our roads. The biggest benefit is the cost. We’re able to cover a lot more miles because we’re able to explore more options.” 

But if you’re starting from scratch, what are the first steps? 

  

How Do You Build a Pavement Preservation Program?  

 Any community can benefit from pavement preservation, but it’s critical to research just how your network can make the most of these treatments.  

 In early 2023, Starkville engineers, the Mayor and the City’s aldermen toured other areas in Mississippi that had utilized pavement preservation.

During these tours, they were able to see products they could utilize in creating their own plan. 

 They observed treatments that were anywhere from one to eight years old. With solid information around the original condition of the pavement and the life extension the treatments can provide, the city began building the foundation of their pavement preservation program.  

 

Using the Right Treatment, on the Right Road, at the Right Time — While Making the Most of Your Budget 

 Following their tours in 2023, Starkville hired a consulting firm to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the City’s entire roadway network. This data was then used to further define Starkville’s pavement preservation plan.  

 In their plan, Starkville used the Pavement Surface Evaluation Rating (PASER). A 1-10 rating scale developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, PASER is a visual assessment used to identify the distresses of roadways.   

 Starkville used videos of their roadway network alongside PASER ratings to validate conditions. These videos not only aided planning pavement preservation projects — they can serve as documentation in the case of future unforeseen circumstances like natural disasters. 

 

 Data Collection Result  

  Starkville’s diligent work paid off — with an accurate and complete data set to reference, the City provided a clear plan of action for their field teams to follow.   

  

Keeping the Entire Community Informed   

 Roadwork, by its nature, is disruptive. Even the quickest jobs can still throw a wrench into the commutes of local residents. Though these disruptions are often unavoidable, their impact on communities can be lessened through frequent, transparent communication.  

 While sharing information about lane closures and detours takes precedence, educating the community on the savings benefits of pavement preservation is a critical note to hit, too. Frustrations can be eased — and even avoided completely — when the community understands the reasons for these interruptions. 

 The first step in Starkville’s  communication plan involved educating city officials. Once the Board of Aldermen was sufficiently briefed on the plan and the budget approved, they played a critical part in keeping communities informed.    

 “Our elected officials were instrumental in spreading the word,” said Cody Burnett, City of Starkville Engineer. “Many of them are active on social media and have used those platforms to direct their constituents to the pavement preservation program’s website.”  

 The website is simple, yet effective — neighborhood-specific projects are broken out by treatment type, impacted roads, a timeline of work and what locals can expect throughout the process. 

  The City went the extra mile to make sure residents and visitors knew what to expect. Letters, social media posts, press releases, yard signs with QR code links, phone text notifications and door hangers alerted the community to impending work by directing them straight to the program’s web page, which was updated daily.  

 “I think it really helps if citizens know what’s coming and what to expect before the work begins,” said Burnett. “One of the things that contributed to our success this year was having printed yard signs that included basic information and a QR code. We placed those out a few days ahead of the work. The QR code links directly to the Pavement Preservation Landing Page, which not only provides detailed information about the work, but also serves as our daily update hub.”  

 Emails were sent out to constituents with information on active and upcoming projects, with details about road closures, how long to expect delays and any necessary detours.   

 “Public communication is one of the most important factors in terms of these projects being successful,” says Kachelman. “Setting the right expectation, making sure everyone is in the loop and letting them know, ‘You might see a little bit of a delay, but just bear with us. The wait will be worth it.’ Those things really go a long way.”  

 “Municipalities know how important public awareness is, but Starkville really went above and beyond in their communication and education of the public,” said Amy Walker, Ergon A&E Area Sales Manager. “In doing so, they significantly cut down on phone calls from affected citizens because the public knew what to expect.”  

 For a plan to be successful, transparent communication is arguably just as important as the actual work and research put into the treatments. Pavement preservation is all about making the most of existing resources — and the communities affected by the work deserve to see the kind of savings their tax dollars are helping to achieve.