Roads under review: SD analyzes $1.9B pavement management plan
Three months after the City of San Diego released its extensive assessment for all roads and its plan to fix them, a review has been done of that plan. The City of San Diego has conducted a review of its $1.9B pavement management plan, following an extensive assessment for all roads and its plan to fix them. The review offers an additional analysis to the city's Pavement Management Plan, which was released in January after an assessment of every city street. Jordan More, principal fiscal and policy analyst for the City of SD, said the plan does right but falls short of its recommendations. He also highlighted the potential for more money to be spent on maintaining roads at a level of public expectations. The city's pavement plan does not include any funds for improvements to unimproved streets, but More believes that addressing these issues could be resolved if addressed failed streets and if they address unimproving streets.
Published : 4 weeks ago by Alani Letang in
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) –Three months after the City of San Diego released its extensive assessment for all roads and its plan to fix them, a review has been done of that plan.
The review offers an additional analysis to the city’s Pavement Management Plan, including what their plan does right, but also what it falls short of while offering recommendations.
“If we want to maintain roads at a level that would align with people’s expectations…one, more money needs to be spent,” said Jordan More, principal fiscal and policy analyst for the City of San Diego Independent Budget Analysis Office.
In the city’s independent budget analysis report of the city’s 10-year $1.9 billion Pavement Management Plan, the IBA report highlights the city’s plan of what might work while offering recommendations.
“The PMP itself is light years ahead of anything that the city ever had before,” More said. “When you have a plan that is as comprehensive as the PMP, there were things I felt were either slipping or things that needed to be highlighted more.”
The city’s pavement plan came in January after an assessment of every city street. Based on a rating system called Pavement Condition Index, San Diego streets scored a 63 out of 100 which is considered fair, but the industry standard is 70.
More said the city’s proposal to repair streets before they deteriorate and become more expensive to fix is generally a good way to do pavement. More said that also creates problems.
“I think you have to make sure you are looking at lifecycle costs, as opposed to just trying to get a metric at a certain time,” More said.
More said the plan would still leave failed streets behind — these are the streets that score a 10 or less out of 100.
“To implement the PMP as done over ten years, it basically creates a valley curve where 80% of the streets would be great, but 20% of the streets would be worse than they almost are now,” More said.
More also said the plan shows unequal outcomes across districts.
“A lot of that unequal outcome, I think would be fixed if addressed failed streets and if they addressed unimproved streets,” More said.
Unimproved streets typically don’t receive city maintenance, according to the IBA report.
The 1.9 billion pavement plan does not include any amounts for unimproved streets, according to the review. However, More said unimproved streets need their own attention.
For this fiscal year 2024, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria has dedicated $140 millionfor street repairs.
The city also has an interactive website called StreetsSD, where people can get updates on street conditions and pavement projects over the next five years.
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