Capital Improvement Program

The Engineering Division (Engineering) of the Development Services Department manages the City’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP). The CIP takes inventory of the City’s existing infrastructure and facilities and then develops a prioritized project list consistent with the community goals. The program is designed to achieve optimum use of taxpayer dollars and to make sound budgetary decisions.  Each year, staff provides a CIP update to the City Council. The update discusses each project’s scope, budget, and anticipated funding source(s). The CIP continues to serve as a tool for staff to plan, implement, and manage improvements and ongoing upgrades to the City’s infrastructure.

Click here to view the Safe Routes to School Project

Pavement Management Program

Lemon Grove was incorporated as a general law city in 1977. Now, approximately 26,000 people live in established neighborhoods including single-family homes, condominiums, and apartment buildings. Municipal parks provide recreational opportunities, and schools and churches are scattered throughout the city.

The majority of the public streets in the City are not engineered roads and are composed of asphalt concrete (often with varying mix designs) placed directly onto native soils. Few streets were appropriately designed to consider actual traffic volumes or the structural condition of the sub-grade soils beneath the pavement. This was the infrastructure inherited by the City of Lemon Grove upon incorporation.

In an effort to better protect pavements, the City adopted a pavement cut ordinance in 2009 that prohibits trenching in pavements less than three years old. In 2010, the City initiated a pavement management system (PMS) called StreetSaver®, which is the most widely used PMS software in California.

The City of Lemon Grove maintains approximately 68.7 center-line miles of streets and an additional 12,560 square yards of parking lots. The pavement management system is used to maintain this pavement network. A survey was taken in early 2010 and the current average pavement condition index (PCI) is 61, which is in the “fair” condition category. 

Canton Drive: Storm Drain Replacement

The City of Lemon Grove has hired TC Construction to install new storm drain lines on Canton Drive to replace an existing 18-inch diameter corrugated metal pipe that has failed. The work includes the installation of approximately 480 lineal feet of 24-inch diameter and 215 lineal feet of 30-inch diameter reinforced concrete pipe, clean-outs, and new drainage inlets.  The construction is anticipated to be completed by mid-May.  Motorists are urged to use caution, obey all signs, and follow the direction of flaggers as they proceed through the construction area (Canton Drive between Watwood Road and Lemon Grove Avenue).

The new line will have more capacity than the failed line and the material, reinforced concrete, is much more durable than the corrugated metal pipe it is replacing.  The new storm drain system will provide the City with many years of useful service.

For additional information regarding this storm drain replacement project; please contact the City Engineer at 619.825.3821.