How's Oakland doing with the pothole problem? And how's the Bay Area pavement doing overall?

According to the latest report from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, released this week, roads in the Bay Area are in crummy condition and Oakland roads are below the region's average. Basically, the MTC report suggests that a significant percentage of Oakland roads are worn out and continuing to worsen.

According to MTC's "The Pothole Report: Can the Bay Area Have Better Roads?," road conditions have not improved over the past 10 years. Most of the Bay Area's nine counties and 101 cities were scored by the MTC at or below the 60-point threshold at which deterioration accelerates rapidly and the need for major rehabilitation becomes much more likely than to the 75-point score that MTC established as a target for roadway quality in its long-range Transportation 2035 Plan adopted in 2009.

If you care, the Bay Area jurisdiction with the highest-ranked pavement in 2010 was the city of Brentwood, with a PCI score of 86. Other top-ranked cities for 2010 (and their PCI scores) were: Belvedere, in Marin County (84), and Dublin, in Alameda County (82).

Was Oakland at the bottom of the list? Not this time. The Bay Area locality with the lowest-ranked pavement in 2010 was the Solano County city of Rio Vista, which had a PCI score of 42, down three points from its ranking in 2009. Other jurisdictions at the low end of the rankings were Sonoma County (45 – up one point from 2009's lowest-in-the-region PCI score of 44); Larkspur in Marin County (45); St. Helena in Napa County (46); and Orinda in Contra Costa County (49).

So where was Oakland? Our score of 56 put us below the 60-point baseline in the fair category, but not by that much.

What do the scores mean?

According to the MTC, PCI scores of 90 or higher are considered "excellent." 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 characterized as "very good" and shows only slight or moderate distress, requiring mostly 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. Because major repairs cost five to 10 times more than routine maintenance, these streets are at an especially critical stage.

Roadways with PCI scores of 50 to 59 are deemed "at-risk," while those with PCI scores of 25 to 49 are considered "poor." These roads require major rehabilitation or reconstruction. Pavement with a PCI score below 25 is considered "failed." These roads are difficult to drive on and need reconstruction.

The full report can be viewed here in PDF format.

Pothole Report 2011