San Diego streets earned a “fair” rating regarding conditions of paved street segments in every neighborhood, the first in seven years, it was announced Thursday.
The evaluation is included in the city’s 65-page Pavement Management Plan, released by the Transportation Department to outline a data-driven strategy for future management.
Mayor Todd Gloria said the results “will give us the tools to be more strategic and efficient when it comes to improving and resurfacing our street network now and in the future.”
The city began collecting the data for the Pavement Condition Index last spring, a process that took several months. San Diego scored a 63 out of 100. The evaluations have a target average of 70.
In Gloria’s current budget, the city dedicated $140 million to streets with a focus on repairing high-volume stretches. In 2023, 254 miles of roadway were repaired or resurfaced, and more than 61,300 potholes were filled.
The last index, conducted in 2016, saw the city score a 71. The city maintains more than 6,600 lane miles of roadway.
According to a statement from the city, it has not had enough funding to perform assessments at the recommended frequency of every four years.
“Everyday, our city crews are out repairing streets and filling potholes,” said Eric Dargan, chief operating officer for the city. “Having this updated pavement condition assessment will help us be more strategic with how we allocate our resources in the future. While we are heading into a lean budget year, we know that our residents expect and deserve to have safe, smooth streets.”
According to the city, four main factors were used to compare the city against other agencies, including funding sources, maintenance trends and annual miles of road repairs. Five of the 13 benchmarked cities currently have an average roadway network index greater than or equal to San Diego’s target of 70.
The average score for the state of California is 65.
“The results of the PCI analysis show us we aren’t where we need to be concerning the conditions of our streets,” said Bethany Bezak, director of the city’s transportation department.
City staff have also developed a plan that shows which streets would be paved in the next five fiscal years if the transportation department receives the funding requested in the Pavement Management Plan.
The relaunched StreetsSD web page allows residents to see ongoing and future paving plans, when streets were last resurfaced and current conditions. They can also provide feedback to the city about streets in their neighborhood.
– City News Service
