Valley roads get ‘poor’ grades

A number of Central Valley towns and unincorporated areas received low-to-poor rankings for their upkeep of roads, according to a report released Tuesday by the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties.

The cities of Merced and Dos Palos received poor grades, scoring fewer than 50 points out of 100, the equivalent of an “F” grade. The rest of Merced County’s roads were considered “lower risk,” or fair.

For their fourth “Save California Streets” report, which is conducted every other year, the two lobbying groups and other regional transportation organizations hired Reno-based engineering and consulting firm NCE to analyze pavement conditions from California’s 58 counties and 482 cities.

The firm found all but four counties have average road conditions considered “at risk” or poor for motorists to drive on. Using a 100-point scale, the statewide average condition was rated at 66 – a level considered fair.

“The conditions of California’s local streets and roads are rolling toward a cliff’s edge,” the report said.

Ratings for Merced County and its neighbors were low, but for different reasons.

▪ Merced County’s 4,954 miles of road received an overall score of 58 out of 100, or what the report called “higher risk” roads. Much of the county reported having fair conditions, while Merced and Dos Palos roads ranked poor. The report said the county will need $1.3billion in road repairs over the next 10 years.

▪ Roads in Stanislaus County were given a score of 55, with the cities getting good or fair marks, while unincorporated areas were rated poor. The 6,032 miles of streets will need $2.6billion in repairs in the next decade, the report said.

▪ Madera County had the lowest overall roadway rating among Valley counties, with a poor rating of 47 on the 100-point scale. Streets in the city of Madera were rated poor, while in Chowchilla, the street rating was estimated to be at higher risk. About $1.2billion will be needed in repairs for the 3,680 miles of road over the next 10 years, according to the report.

In a statement accompanying the NCE report, California State Association of Counties Executive Director Matt Cate blamed a reduction in funding for creating a backlog of maintenance that’s been pushed back and an overall deterioration in California’s local streets and roads – from a road rating of 68 in the first such report in 2008 to 66 this year.

“The state gas tax is only worth half of its value compared to when it was last increased in 1994,” Cate said. “While revenues are decreasing, cities and counties are doing more with less.”

“It’s time to get serious about a more stable funding source for local streets, roads and bridges,” he continued, “so we can begin to catch up on a backlog of work that should have been completed long ago.”

The city of Merced programmed about $500,000 less in gas tax funds into this year’s budget compared with last year.

The city of Dos Palos also struggles to keep its roads up because of a lack of funding through gas taxes and transportation fees. Compounding the problem is that the city is built on wetlands, according to City Manager Darrell Fonseca.

The city had about $209,000 in gas tax and transportation funds last year to maintain its 24 miles of road, he said.

The aging roads and shifting swamp lands are a problem for the city. “It’s probably our biggest problem here,” he said.

Land at the west end of the county is sinking because so much water is being pumped from underground while the state faces a drought, which Fonseca said makes the damage to roads even worse. U.S. Geological Survey researchers revealed last year that the sinking land is spread across about 1,200 square miles.

Fonseca said that although Dos Palos has some unique problems, it’s in the same boat as many parts of the state that are struggling to maintain infrastructure. “The state needs to make a major effort in that direction,” he said. “Otherwise we’re going to be suffering a big problem statewide with transportation.”

The Fresno Bee contributed to this report.

This story was originally published October 29, 2014 at 7:55 PM with the headline "Valley roads get ‘poor’ grades."