Richmond streets dip into "at-risk" territory, latest MTC pavement condition report shows
Richmond’s roadway conditions have dipped into the “at-risk” category according to Pavement Condition Index data released by the regional transportation agency Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
Richmond scored 59 out of the maximum possible 100 points in the MTC’s annual Pavement Condition report. Richmond’s pavement conditions scores have fallen in recent years from a “fair” 63 score in 2021 and 60 in 2022. Bay Area streets and roads have received an average score of 67 in the last nine years.
Roadways with PCI scores of 50 to 59 are deemed “at-risk,” while those with PCI scores of 25 to 49 are considered “poor.” MTC said major repairs can cost five to 10 times more than routine maintenance.
PCI scores of 90 or higher are considered “excellent.” According to the MTC, these are newly built or resurfaced streets that show little or no distress. Pavement with a PCI score in the 80 to 89 range is considered “very good” and shows only slight or moderate distress, requiring primarily preventive maintenance.
The “good” category ranges from 70 to 79, while streets with PCI scores in the “fair” (60-69) range are becoming worn to the point where rehabilitation may be needed to prevent rapid deterioration. Pavement with a PCI score below 25 is considered “failed.”
Commission Chair Scott Haggerty said MTC’s goal is to boost the regional average PCI score to about 85 points, which is close to scores in cities like Dublin, Cupertino, and Palo Alto.
“The good news is that the SB 1 gas tax money that cities and counties began receiving a couple years ago has helped prevent sliding backward," Haggerty said. "But the bad news is that forward progress is slow, and there’s still a long, steep climb to get where we want to be.”
In February, a city-wide pavement survey of Richmond’s overall roadway network gave the city’s pavement condition index a “fair” score of 61.
Soren Hemmila
Thirty-six percent of Richmond’s roads are in really good condition. One-third of our roads are in fair condition, while another third are in poor or very poor condition, according to Margot Yapp, President of NCE, a consulting firm that conducted the city’s survey.
“It is a mixed report card; it is definitely not an A+,” Yapp said at February’s Richmond City Council meeting. “Sixty-one is an average condition.”
Yapp said Richmond was improving its roads, and pavement conditions were pretty stable, but it has begun to show a downward trend over the last three or four years.
“I think that is a red flag for all of us,” Yapp said during the council meeting.
Yapp said Richmond’s aggressive preventive maintenance program is insufficient to address all the streets in the city.
“At the current funding level, which is about $4 million a year for paving right now, we are going to project that the PCI will drop from its current level of low 60s to 46 in 10 years,” Yapp said in February. “You are back to where you were in 2005.”
To preserve the city’s current fair pavement condition index, Yapp said Richmond needs to invest about $15 million annually for the next five years. To fix every street in the city, Richmond would need to invest $21 million yearly for the next ten years. A PCI score of 80 is considered a best management practice, but few agencies achieve that goal.
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