What Can Be Done About our Road Conditions?

By Zach Friend — Second District Supervisor, Santa Cruz County

A simple drive through the neighborhoods of Aptos will show that the condition of our local roads is deteriorating. The County recently completed a comprehensive analysis of our local roads to determine just how bad it was and what could be done. We know that state and federal funding for infrastructure, which includes road repairs and improvements, highway work, bridges and multi-modal transportation methods has been slashed drastically over the last decade and local funding mechanisms have not been able to keep pace with the growing need. What did the study show?

On a scale of zero (a failed road) to 100 (new road) the average Pavement Condition Index (PCI) of Santa Cruz County roads is 55. This means that our roads are generally defined as being in “poor condition” by this state measurement index. The statewide average PCI has dropped from 68 in 2008 to 66 (an “at risk” category) in 2012. The deferred maintenance for Santa Cruz County roads is estimated to be approximately $180 million over the next five years.

Even with these constraints we’ve made some improvements over this past year including: major overlay work in the Aptos Village, slurry improvements on San Andreas Road in La Selva Beach, safety improvements on Corralitos Road near Bradley Elementary, a large rail crossing improvement in Seacliff on Mar Vista, bridge replacements and repairs on Green Valley Road and Day Valley and more.

However, I’m keenly aware it isn’t enough and the condition of our county roads continues to be a frustration point for many of us. What is the county considering to address this issue?

There are a few options:

1. Expanding County Service Areas. These are small neighborhood or rural roadway benefit assessment areas that raise funds to build, maintain and repair roads specific to your neighborhood. The CSAs are self-initiated and are set up under Prop. 218 – which requires a mail ballot procedure and majority of the returned votes. This is a way to ensure that your specific local road is addressed.
2. Vehicle Registration Fee or Special Tax. This model would have a dedicated parcel tax for road maintenance or an assessed vehicle registration fee for local roads. This helps the County become a “self-help county” — a designation that a) helps the County leverage limited state and federal grant funds (which generally seek a local match) and b) ensure that funds stay locally.

While these two options wouldn’t solve all of our road issues, they would (individually or collectively) provide an improvement over the current situation.

Absent a state or federal infusion of funding, or a change in the state allocation of property taxes (our county only receives 13 cents on every property tax dollar that we collect) we will most likely need to look at ways to become more self-sustainable when it comes to transportation and maintenance funding.

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As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this issue. Please feel free to contact my office at 454-2200 and share your ideas.