Lack of Maintenance Puts City Streets on Road to Ruin

SANTA ANA —  Frustrated motorists traversing Orange County’s well-worn city streets can expect the pavement to keep crumbling for some time before repairs are made.

A report to the Orange County Transportation Authority on Monday said at least 26% of the county’s 6,600 miles of surface streets are in poor or very poor condition, with an additional 19% described as fair.

Further, the report said cities are spending only a fraction of the money necessary to maintain their streets at current levels, resulting in a rapidly growing $875-million backlog of much-needed repairs.

“Deteriorating roads affect property values and lead to the perception that crime rates are rising,” said Mike Ward, an Irvine city councilman and member of the OCTA board.

James Ross, public works director for Santa Ana, said worn streets are “probably the primary problem facing public works as an industry.”

The report surveyed slightly more than half of the pavement along the city streets, concluding that about 55% is in good or very good condition. It would cost about $150 million a year to keep all streets, regardless of condition, from deteriorating any more, the report said.

Yet Orange County’s 31 cities are spending only $50 million to $60 million annually for that purpose, the report said. The conclusion: City maintenance crews are fighting a losing battle against pavement deterioration.

“This is an eye-opener,” said OCTA board member Susan Withrow. “We can’t just continue to build streets without maintaining the ones that we have.”

City officials say that while state and federal funds are available for new projects, relatively little money can be obtained to maintain existing streets.

And while about $150 million in street maintenance funds is available to Orange County cities annually from state and county sources, the same money must also pay for widening projects, storm drains, medians and street lights.

“I think most cities are spending what they can on their pavement,” Ross said.

In Santa Ana, the county’s largest city, that translates into about $5 million annually--slightly less than 20% of the estimated $24 million it would take per year to maintain the streets at their current levels. Consequently, Ross said, the city has a backlog of about $50 million in deferred street maintenance projects.

“The maintenance money is what no one has enough of,” he said, “and the backlogs are growing. I think that everybody is spending every dime that they can to repave their streets.”

Last month, OCTA tried to help by allocating $17.1 million to repair street surfaces countywide. It was the largest single allocation the agency had ever made for that purpose. Yet, OCTA officials admitted, it was like using an ice cube to cool a volcano.

“There just isn’t enough money to go around,” board member Todd Spitzer said. “Even if we made a commitment as a board to keep all arterials up to par, how do we provide incentives to the cities” to redirect funds from other purposes for street maintenance?

On Monday, the board took what some perceived as a step in that direction by requesting its staff to work with local agencies on developing a standardized way of evaluating, reviewing and regularly reporting the condition of city streets countywide.

“This is something that’s highly visible,” board member Charles V. Smith said. “We’ve got to get a program going.”

Miguel Pulido, who serves on the OCTA board and is the mayor of Santa Ana, said the problem should take a high priority. “I think this is an issue facing all of us,” he said. “I see us going into a slow slide.”

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Street Scene

A little more than half of Orange County’s paved roads and streets are in very good or good condition, with the rest having deteriorated. How the non-freeway paved arteries rate:

Very good: 36%

Good: 19

Fair: 19

Poor: 13

Very poor: 13

Note: Orange County Transportation Authority analyzed 55% of paved, non-freeway miles countywide

Source: OCTA