Belmont’s street quality is trending upward, with recent city investments ensuring road pavement conditions are some of its best in years.
According to a city inventory of its street quality presented at an Oct. 11 council meeting, the city significantly improved its Pavement Condition Index, or PCI, from 63 in 2020 to 68 in 2022. The increase is one of the highest rates Belmont has ever seen after hovering between 57 and 59 from 2014 to 2018.
“This council has invested strategically in that being important for the community, and we will continue to spend those dollars on improving the streets,” Councilmember Davina Hurt said.
The PCI ranking goes from 0 to 100 and rates the severity and extent of pavement surface distress, like cracks or ruts. Rates of 55 to 70 are considered fair, while 40 to 55 are poor. Around 68% of the city’s road network is 70% or better, placing it in the good category, a significant increase from 2016, when only 48.9% was in good condition. Roads in poor condition have decreased from 16% in 2016 to 10% in 2022.
A city staff report said funding from Measure I, W and state laws have been critical to funding street improvements and pavement maintenance to address maintenance backlog over the last five years. Measure I is a 2016 city tax that has generated $2 million annually. The city has used the vast majority for infrastructure improvements, while Measure W is a county tax for transportation providing additional street repair dollars. Since 2018, the city has repaved and rehabilitated over 23 centerline miles, approximately 33% of the total 70 miles of city streets, using Measure I funding. A staff report said city investment of around $7 million over the last four years in projects was also key, particularly with a 2021 project that patched 109 segments of road. The PCI increase is also due to sewer, storm and water improvement city projects and large developments requiring street and infrastructure upgrades.
Mayor Julia Mates noted the city was spending $360,000 per year before voters passed Measure I, with increased funding a pivotal contributor to the PCI increase.
“We are not forgetting those roads that are failing, and we have to tackle those,” Mates said. “However, getting the majority of our roads and streets is significant.”
Councilmember Warren Lieberman said while there were public doubts about how Measure I was spent, the council had kept its word and increased trust between the public and government.
“Measure I was an incredibly successful collaboration of the public, staff and the council,” Lieberman said.
The city is responsible for around 70 center miles of streets. Arterial streets like Ralston Avenue are about 12 lane miles of the city, while residential streets are two thirds of streets at 48 miles. The city would have to spend $2.6 million annually to maintain current PCI levels. If it did not invest anything in the following years, its PCI would go to about 60 by 2026, although other projects in the area from the county and state could help PCI. To improve it by another five points, it would have to spend about $4.8 million over the next five years.
“There’s a ton more to do, as we saw in those numbers, but we are biting it off little by little,” Hurt said.
(650) 344-5200 ext. 102
(650) 344-5200 ext. 102
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(1) comment
The City Council has continually overstated the benefits of Measure I in improving Belmont's streets because it suits their political narrative because they strongly pushed for passage of Measure I. In fact, the PCI increased much more than projected even before significant spending from Measure I began in the latter half of 2018, and much of the improvement after that was for reasons other than Measure I. Much of the improvement was due to increased spending on maintenance like crack and pothole filling, which is performed by city workers and not paid for by Measure I.
Mayor Mates falsely stated that spending on pavement was only $360K per year before Measure I, but she knew better because I provided the council with detailed spreadsheets showing it was much more. Her total does not include the cost of maintenance by city workers or some other spending, and the total actually averaged about $1.4 million per year in the four years before Measure I spending started. In fact, the impact of Measure I spending would have been much greater if spending from the general fund had not been cut back at the same time.
The latest Pavement Management Report (PMR) and prior reports going back to 2015 have been grossly inaccurate and useless for planning because they all greatly overstated the level of funding needed to increase or maintain the PCI. For example, the prior report in 2020 predicted the PCI would remain the same in 2022 at 63 if then current spending of $1.7 million per year was maintained. Instead, it increased to 68 at that level of spending. So, estimates in the current report of future funding needed should be given no credence.
The Council did not discuss my serious concerns regarding inaccuracies in the PMR or correct those errors before posting it online because they were more interested in playing politics than providing residents with the truth.
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