Mangled Monday

City falls deeper into its potholes
RICHMOND: Cost to repair ailing roads soaring and problem will worsen with continued inaction

By John Geluardi
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Unless Richmond can speed up its street repair program over the next few years, it may be cheaper to fill the potholes with $100 bills.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission has determined that Richmond has the worst streets in the Bay Area. And each year they go unrepaired, the cost to fix them soars, according to a recent Harris & Associates pavement report.

"In other words," the report says, "it is not simply 'pay today or pay tomorrow,' but rather 'pay today or pay more tomorrow.'"

Like many cities, Richmond finance officials regularly have cut road repair funding when looking for money to balance the budget. But Richmond is now sitting on a deferred maintenance bill of $94 million, and unless the city can somehow increase repair funding, that figure will skyrocket to about $200 million in 2010, Finance Director Jim Goins said.

The city has been pouring millions each year into road repair but has not been able to keep up with the deterioration, Goins said.

"We're spending $8 million this year, and next year we'll spend $9 million. After that, spending drops to $5 million for each of the next three years," Goins said. "It's simply not enough."

The city would have to spend $38.2 million annually for the next five years to stabilize rapid street deterioration, according to the pavement report. At minimum, the city should spend $25 million a year to avoid a staggering financial obligation in five years, Goins said.

The city rolled back road repair funding after Chevron changed its formula for calculating its utility tax this summer, Goins said. That recalculation is expected to reduce city revenue by an estimated $4 million a year.

A little more than half the city's 279 miles of paved roadways are in either poor or very poor condition, which means they have reached a stage where deterioration rapidly accelerates. A roadway in very poor condition has to be completely reconstructed at a cost of $68 per square foot, according to the report.

And that doesn't include vehicle wear and tear. Driving into potholes can flatten tires, knock hub caps loose and, in some cases, break an axle. There also is an insidious damage to tires and alignment, said California Automobile Association spokesman Sean Comey.

"Potholes can dramatically increase the cost of maintaining an automobile because more often than not you do a small amount of damage each time you hit one," he said. "You don't notice it, but it builds up over time."

Poorly maintained roads take a toll on the city's image and ability to attract business, said Judy Morgan, president of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce.

"It makes it harder to lease commercial space, which makes it harder to bring businesses to Richmond," she said. "If your business has a fleet of trucks, the cost to service them is going to be higher. There's also a negative impact on real estate values."

City Councilman Jim Rogers made road repairs a centerpiece of his re-election campaign this fall. He has been an advocate of redirecting redevelopment money to road repair.

The Richmond Redevelopment Agency currently has an annual budget of about $41 million, which is expected to increase over the next few years.

Critics argue that diverting redevelopment funding -- which is meant to improve infrastructure and create housing in rundown communities -- would be a violation of state law. Rogers dismisses that argument and said he is convinced that the city would be within its rights to divert some of the money to repairing roads.

"I have suggested we take $5 million a year from redevelopment," he said. "About two thirds of Richmond is in a redevelopment area, and fixing roadways is an appropriate investment of that money."

Contact John Geluardi at 510-262-2787 or at jgeluardi@cctimes.com

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It's tough for a city to have pride when it lacks street maintenance as a purpose.

Any mayor, former mayor, or mayor elect have a plan for that? Or is this just like the office of violence prevention?