Suffering through stifling triple-digit temperatures and sticker shock at the gas pumps, Orem residents have one thing to be optimistic about this summer -- the city's road maintenance and repair program.

Road crews and contractors are busy sealing, mending and repaving some of the city's oldest and worst roads this summer in order to meet Orem's goal of restoring and extending the life of its streets.

In 2004, voters passed a $14 million bond aimed at fixing up and preserving the 226 centerline miles of road in the state's fifth largest city.

"Our intent there is to catch up on the roads and bring them all up to good or excellent condition," said Jim Reams, Orem's city manager.

City officials began an ambitious road maintenance program in 2002 in which Orem's streets division inventories all city roads every few years and gives each street a points rating based on its condition, said Jeff Shambaugh, an Orem streets engineering specialist and pavement management coordinator.

Roads in the best condition receive what's called a slurry seal, a mixture of asphalt and aggregate that protects a road, making it look black and new again.

"The slurry seal extends the life of a road five to seven years," Shambaugh said. "We're trying to prevent any more deterioration."

This summer, Orem road crews laid slurry seal on roads east of State Street between Center Street and 800 North, for a total of 96 roads.

Last fall and winter, the road maintenance program concentrated on applying crack seal, putting black tar in the fissures of roads, to prevent further damage.

Shambaugh said three main factors contribute to the decline of a road surface: Utah's extreme temperatures, both hot and cold, that cause the asphalt to contract and expand; traffic volume, particularly on older roads; and materials.

"Many roads in Orem are 30 to 40 years old and weren't meant to hold buses and semis," Shambaugh said.

If a crack or slurry seal isn't sufficient to repair a road, crews will put down a new layer of asphalt concrete, an overlay, or tear it out and completely rebuild the road. Depending on the road and its condition, engineers will determine the thickness of the overlay required.

While a slurry seal application costs nine cents per square foot, an overlay can run $1 per square foot.

"We want to get around to every road every 5 to 7 years," Shambaugh said.

Starting in August, the city has contracts for 12 sections of streets to receive overlays, including 400 North from Main Street to 1050 West and 400 East from Center Street to 400 South and the major 1600 North project, he said.

"Just recently we were approved for $750,000 a year for overlays and reconstructs," he said, of additional revenue budgeted to the program by the Orem City Council.

Yet Reams said soaring material costs such as asphalt, a petroleum-based product, have caused initial 2004 pre-bond estimates for road repairs and maintenance to increase by 50 percent.

"Inflation is costing us additional millions," he said, adding that the city has had to use funding from other areas of the municipal budget to make up the difference.

By the fall of 2007, the city hopes to have assessed and applied the needed maintenance or repairs to every street in the city.

"We have a more aggressive program than most cities in Utah," Shambaugh said. "I think we do a pretty good job for the budget and amount of roads we have."

Residents can view Orem road maintenance and repair projects for the next three years on a new interactive map on the city's Web site at www.orem.org. Click on the Public Works tab and then click on Interactive map. There are also links on the bottom of the interactive map for individuals to e-mail city streets staff with questions about their street or to get information on the city's road maintenance schedule.