Within the next month, Port Arthur engineers hope to have data on the condition of its streets to present to the city council.

Drivers from Infrastructure Management Services of Tempe, Ariz., are going across the city with an “X-ray” van to examine the condition of each road and provide data to the engineering division of Port Arthur Public Works. IMS workers told city officials the van uses actual lasers and gathers data into its computer system to send to IMS’ home office, where a quality control team prepares the information for Port Arthur’s street workers.

The Port Arthur City Council approved the purchase of IMS services for $98,500 in October, but engineer Dewayne Davis said Port Arthur employees don’t get involved in IMS’ work. The funding went into use of a specialized van.

“We just wait for their final report,” he said. “They said we should have something mid- to late-January. One of the things they’re leery of with their equipment, when it rains, it casts a deflection and they don’t pick up what they need.”

City council members will then examine the data of each road to determine which ones are of the greatest or most immediate need.

Public Works director Alberto Elefaño said in October while the city has agreed to the service for up to five years, the process for rehabilitating the roads will be evaluated year-by-year.

The van includes road surface testers that include a digital condition rating system, a laser camera array and geometrics pack, GPS and inertial navigation and distance measuring instruments.

In separate road rehabilitation news, the city has begun work on a stretch of Nashville Avenue from Rev. Ransom Howard Street (West 7th Avenue) to Procter Street.

To fund this project Dec. 3 , the City council increased its contract with a Beaumont road contractor by more than $180,000 to $1,095,941.36.

The project is funded through the city’s capital improvements account and is not related to any work from IMS.