Working with the State to Improve our Roads

By Zach Friend, County Supervisor 2nd District

There is no question that one of the most common requests for service we receive in our office is for some sort of road maintenance or repair. The County maintains over 600 miles of roads with over 200 miles in our district alone — everything from the summit to Corralitos to residential roads in La Selva. It’s a massive amount of roads, bridges, culverts and more to maintain, especially with significant cuts in state funding, gas tax receipts and federal infrastructure funds.

Each year the Public Works Department does a report to the Board of Supervisors on the general state of local streets and roads in our County. At their most recent presentation, the Pavement Management Index (a standard measurement of pavement condition) averaged 57 on a scale of 1 to 100. Similar to a high school test score, this is a very low grade. In all, 63 percent of our local County roads fall in the combined categories of At Risk, Poor, or Failed. The score of 57 on the Pavement Management Index is actually an improvement from the previous year where it was 55 – mainly do to a small infusion of funds for arterial road improvements (for example, Soquel and McGregor).

Recently, the Public Works Department provided an update on California roads and requested that we work with our state elected officials to ensure that local road funds are part of the current special budget session. In June, the Governor called for an Special Session on Transportation and Infrastructure called on the Legislature to consider, “…permanent and stable funding to adequately and responsibly maintain and repair the state’s transportation and infrastructure.” Unfortunately, the Governor made no mention of priorities for local streets and roads. The report from Public Works noted that cities and counties own and operate more than 81 percent of streets and roads throughout the state. The general state of local agency pavement infrastructure for local streets and roads in California, the argued, is in jeopardy of further deterioration if current funding levels remain the same. Almost all local agencies across the state report a lack of adequate funding to repair and maintain crumbling roads, highways, bridges, and other transportation infrastructure.

According to the California State Association of Counties:

• California has the second highest share of roads in “poor condition” in the nation.
• Fifty-eight percent of state roads need rehabilitation or pavement maintenance.
• California has 6 of 10 cities with the worst road conditions in the nation.
• Fifty-five percent of local bridges require rehabilitation or replacement.
• Nearly seventy percent of California’s urban roads and highways are congested.
• Without additional funding, one-quarter of local streets and roads will be in failed condition by 2024.

A broad-based coalition of cities, counties, labor, business, public safety and transportation advocates and more have joined the “Fix Our Roads” coalition encouraging local roads be a significant part of the funding discussion. A stable state funding mechanism is one of the best opportunities our County has for improved road maintenance.

Our local funding structure is unable to make up this shortfall. Dedicated road funds as part of property taxes bring in about $2 million/year for 600 miles of roads and only 13 cents of every property tax dollar goes to the County (the rest goes to special districts, the school districts and the state). Stable road funding has been a strong request of many of my constituents and it’s something that the Board of Supervisors and Public Works is taking seriously.

I’ve recently been to Sacramento to bring your personal stories about transportation issues to our local state delegation. Assemblymember Stone (a former County Supervisor), Assemblymember Alejo, and Senator Monning have all been very responsive to my office’s requests and are very receptive to your outreach. They are keenly aware of the local transportation needs but you can also help them by reaching out to them to show your support for local roads to be included in the funding proposals.

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As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please feel free to contact me at 454-2200.