Media Advisory

For Immediate Release

Bay Area Pavement Quality Remains in Danger Zone

New Report Shows Only Modest Improvement

CONTACTS:
John Goodwin, MTC 510.817.5862
Randy Rentschler, MTC 510.817.5780

OAKLAND, Calif., October 18, 2006 . . . Despite a slight improvement in pavement conditions on the Bay Area’s nearly 19,500 miles of local streets and roads in 2005, 18 percent of the region’s pavement is in “poor” or worse condition, and fully one-third is rated only “good” or “fair,” according to a new report released today by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC).

The region’s average pavement condition index (PCI) score last year rose two points to 64 out of a maximum possible 100. The Bay Area’s nine counties and 101 cities registered an average PCI score of 66 points in 2001, with the numbers dropping to 65 in 2002, 63 in 2003 and 62 in 2004.

“The improvement in the regional average certainly is good news,” said MTC Vice Chair and former Santa Clara City Councilmember John McLemore. “But our streets and roads are still at a critical stage. There are thousands of miles of streets and roads all around the Bay Area with PCI scores that have fallen below 60, which is the point when pavement begins deteriorating rapidly. So we need to invest in both preventive maintenance to keep the good roads above 60 and in rehabilitation to bring poorer roads out of the danger zone. Given the size of our funding shortfall, that’s a huge challenge.”

PCI scores of 90 or higher are deemed “excellent.” These are newly built or resurfaced streets that show little or no distress. “Very good” scores of 75 to 89 are given to pavement that shows only slight distress and requires mostly preventive maintenance. Pavement with PCI scores in the “good” (60-74) and “fair” (45-59) ranges are becoming worn to the point where rehabilitation may be needed to prevent rapid deterioration. Because major repairs cost about five times more than routine maintenance, these streets are at an especially critical stage. Streets and roads with PCI scores of 25 to 44 are considered “poor” and require major rehabilitation or reconstruction. Pavement with a PCI score below 25 is considered “very poor.” These roads are difficult to drive on and need reconstruction.

No Bay Area city or county scored in the excellent range for 2005. The top-ranked jurisdiction is the Contra Costa County city of Oakley, where the PCI on local streets averaged 86, up two points from 2004. The lowest-ranked pavement was found in unincorporated Sonoma County, which for the second consecutive year recorded an average PCI score of 44. The San Mateo County city of Colma logged the biggest year-to-year improvement in 2005, with its average PCI score jumping 31 points to 78. About one-quarter of Colma’s nine miles of city streets received a new asphalt overlay in 2005. The complete 2005 rankings of Bay Area PCI scores can be found in Fig. 3 below.

MTC projections made for the long-range Transportation 2030 Plan, adopted last year by the Commission, show that between now and 2030, the Bay Area’s cities and counties face a combined shortfall of more than $6 billion for maintaining and restoring local streets and roads.

“The November statewide ballot will give voters an opportunity to close some of the funding gap,” explained Santa Clara County Supervisor and MTC Commissioner Jim Beall. “Proposition 1A would help close a loophole that allows the state Legislature to divert funds away from transportation and Proposition 1B — the $20 billion transportation infrastructure bond — would deliver about $375 million over 10 years for local street and roads in the Bay Area.”

The pavement statistics are part of the Bay Area Transportation: State of the System 2006 project spearheaded by MTC and Caltrans. This annual initiative tracks the performance of the region’s transportation system and the condition of its facilities. The complete State of the System report is scheduled for publication later this year.

MTC is the transportation planning, funding and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.

Figure 1

Figure 2
Bay Area Jurisdictions With Best and Worst Pavement Conditions, 2005

Best	2005 PCI (out of 100)
1	Oakley	86
2	Los Altos	85
3	Contra Costa County (unincorporated) Dixon Sunnyvale	83 83 83
6	City of Santa Clara Emeryville Foster City	82 82 82
9	Brentwood Gilroy	81 81
Worst	2005 PCI (out of 100)
97	Napa County (unincorporated) Suisun City	53 53
99	Oakland	52
100	City of Napa El Cerrito Rio Vista	51 51 51
103	Larkspur	50
104	Orinda	48
105	Marin County (unincorporated) Richmond	47 47
107	Sonoma County (unincorporated)	44

Source: Metropolitan Transportation Commission
PCI = pavement condition index; PCI of 100 = Excellent
107 of 109 jurisdictions reporting

Figure 3

2005 Average PCI	Jurisdiction	2004 Average PCI
Very Good
861	Oakley	84
85	Los Altos	85
83	Contra Costa County (unincorporated)	85
831	Dixon	84
831	Sunnyvale	83
82	City of Santa Clara	84
82	Emeryville	NA
821	Foster City	79
811	Brentwood	87
811	Gilroy	82
80	Livermore	79
80	Vacaville	75
79	Belvedere	83
79	Clayton	68
79	Santa Clara County (unincorporated)	69
781	Campbell	80
78	Colma	47
78	Concord	79
781	Dublin	79
781	Newark	78
78	Pleasanton	73
77	City of Sonoma	79
77	Fairfield	78
76	American Canyon	76
76	Morgan Hill	65
761	Union City	77
76	Windsor	72
75	Danville	76
Good
741	Corte Madera	74
741	Hercules	76
74	Los Gatos	67
74	Mountain View	76
741	Redwood City	74
73	Los Altos Hills	74
73	San Ramon	74
721	Fairfax	66
72	Monte Sereno	53
71	Alameda County (unincorporated)	63
71	Daly City	69
711	Fremont	71
71	Pinole	72
711	Sausalito	68
70	Antioch	70
70	Benicia	71
701	Cloverdale	67
70	Novato	64
70	South San Francisco	63
691	Cupertino	68
69	Lafayette	54
69	Milpitas	70
69	Rohnert Park	71
67	Brisbane	69
671	Burlingame	67
671	Cotati	69
671	Hayward	67
67	Saratoga	69
661	Piedmont	67
66	San Bruno	57
66	San Mateo County (unincorporated)	62
66	Yountville	70
653	City and County of San Francisco	64
651	Healdsburg	66
651	Mill Valley	66
65	Pleasant Hill	59
651	Portola Valley	66
65	San Carlos	64
65	San Mateo	54
651	Sebastopol	67
65	Tiburon	58
64	Atherton	71
641	City of Alameda	65
64	Menlo Park	60
64	Pittsburg	67
641	San Jose	64
64	San Pablo	66
631	East Palo Alto	63
63	Pacifica	70
63	San Rafael	64
62	Millbrae	61
621	Moraga	64
62	San Leandro	64
62	Santa Rosa	64
62	Woodside	64
611	Belmont	61
601	Albany	61
2005 Average PCI	Jurisdiction	2004 Average PCI
60	Petaluma	64
602	St. Helena	63
Fair
591	Ross	62
591	San Anselmo	60
58	Berkeley	67
581	Half Moon Bay	55
581	Hillsborough	63
58	Solano County (unincorporated)	58
571	Calistoga	55
551	Martinez	58
55	Vallejo	54
531	Napa County (unincorporated)	59
53	Suisun City	55
521,3	Oakland	56
511	City of Napa	52
51	El Cerrito	61
51	Rio Vista	53
50	Larkspur	55
48	Orinda	46
471	Marin County (unincorporated)	50
47	Richmond	47
Poor
44	Sonoma County (unincorporated)	44
No Data
NA	Palo Alto	NA
NA	Walnut Creek	NA

Source: Metropolitan Transportation Commission

2005 PCI scores based on pavement databases updated in 2005 unless noted.
2004 PCI score is based on inspections between 2000 and 2004.

1 - 2005 PCI score is an estimate based on inspections done between 2002
and 2004.

2 - PCI score is an estimate based on inspections prior to 2002.

3 - Score has been correlated to the PCI scale from an alternate pavement
management system.

NA = not available

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