By Khalida Sarwari
San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland fall just below Los Angeles for having the highest percentage of roads that are in poor condition in the country, according to a report released today by two transportation organizations.
The “Rough Road Ahead: Fix Them Now or Pay it Later” report by TRIP and the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials says California’s major urban roadways are among the roughest in the nation, and the three Bay Area cities topped a list of 20 urban areas with the highest percentage of bad roads. Also listed as being among the worst were Santa Rosa, Concord and Antioch.
“The matter of why they are deteriorating is lack of appropriate funding,” said Transportation California executive director Mark Watts. “The fundamental problem is there’s just a big gap in purchasing power of gas tax and what our needs are.”
The damaged roads are costing drivers more than $700 annually in extra vehicle operating costs in San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland, according to Transportation California, a collaboration of business, labor and government organizations that promote transportation policies.
The report evaluated pavement conditions on major urban roadways in the nation’s largest urban areas and calculated also the extra vehicle operating cost to motorists of driving on deteriorating roads.
The report concluded that the increase in traffic is contributing to the deterioration of the roads and that transportation funding is inadequate.
Watts said the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act approved by the federal government that will provide $2.6 billion for highway projects in California will not be enough to cover the costs of maintenance, preservation, expansion and reconstruction of the highway transportation
system.
“The public is paying for these poor road conditions twice,” Watts said. “First through additional vehicle costs and then in higher road repair and construction costs.”
TRIP is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that researches, evaluates and distributes economic and technical data on highway transportation issues.