The city of San Diego is making some changes in its approach to repairing area roads.
Having released a Pavement Management Plan in January intended to provide a strategy and funding options for street fixes, along with a related five-year paving plan, it now is implementing two new street resurfacing methods designed to quickly and cost-effectively repair damaged roads.
For the first time in seven years, the city completed an assessment in 2023 of the condition of every paved street segment in every neighborhood, known as a Pavement Condition Index, collecting data that will help guide decisions on how to prioritize and fund road repair.
The survey dropped the overall pavement rating for San Diego’s streets from a score of 71 (which placed them near the bottom of the “satisfactory” category) to 63, in the middle of the “fair” category.
Pavement Condition Index scores range from 0 to 100, with an average of 70 being the industry standard.
According to the survey, City Council District 2, which includes Point Loma and Ocean Beach, recorded the region’s lowest rating, 57.
More than a third of San Diego’s 2,800-mile network of streets, especially larger roads that carry more vehicles, were rated “poor,” “very poor,” “serious” or “failed.”
“The results of the PCI analysis show us we aren’t where we need to be concerning the conditions of our streets,” said Bethany Bezak, director of the city Transportation Department. “Now that we have this data, it allows us to put a long-term plan in place to better strategically and cost-effectively fix our roads.”
Among the tools the city can use in its Pavement Management Plan to get San Diego’s PCI score to an average of 70 are advanced planning and scheduling, bulk material purchasing and strategic stockpiling, improved training and skill development, project bundling, in-house paving and more.
The plan also points out that the city’s funding for road repair has been inconsistent in the past 10 years and has been dependent on changes in the general fund budget.
According to the plan, up to $1.9 billion is needed within the next 10 years to reach the city’s street network goal of PCI 70 or higher.
In one scenario, PCI 70 could be achieved in five years with an average annual investment of $277 million and $1.4 billion total, the plan states.
A 10-year scenario would achieve PCI 70 with an annual average of $188 million and $1.9 billion total, according to the plan.
It also says the goal could be reached in Year 8 with a total of $1.7 billion, or about $213 million annually.
But an 87-page report released Feb. 12 by San Diego City Auditor Andy Hanau said, among other criticisms, that the pavement plan lacked key details such as a comprehensive funding strategy.
“While the new Pavement Management Plan briefly describes possible avenues to increase funding, it does not establish a specific funding strategy,” the audit stated. “Without a funding strategy and a dedicated funding source, the quality of the street network will continue to decline and deferred maintenance costs will increase.”
Some of the funding sources mentioned were allocations over time from the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Program created by state Senate Bill 1 of 2017, which addresses deferred maintenance on the state highway system and local street system; TransNet gasoline sales taxes; street damage fees derived from the city’s street preservation ordinance; bonds and more.
Bezak said the Transportation Department would make the changes recommended in the audit and said most would be completed by fall 2025.
She also said city officials have committed to conducting pavement surveys every four years, saying money for a survey in 2027 was included in a city five-year financial outlook released in November.
The Pavement Management Plan recommends what it calls “the best value approach,” which allows for higher fixed annual funding levels.
It says the Transportation Department’s proposed budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year includes $60 million for street maintenance and $168 million for rehabilitation.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposed 2024-25 budget released April 12 includes $140.7 million for street repairs, which would enable the city to pave 15 more miles of streets in the next fiscal year (75) than it did in 2023-24 (60).
The proposal also includes money for more design work on future paving projects, which could allow the number of miles paved in fiscal 2025-26 to climb to 105.
The city also has developed a five-year paving plan that shows which streets would be paved in the next five fiscal years if the Transportation Department were to receive the funding requested in the Pavement Management Plan.
The department has begun using two new street resurfacing methods in work now underway in Kensington, Talmadge, Grantville, San Carlos, North Park, Bay Park and several other communities.
According to the city, the new sealing methods, called cape seal and scrub seal, are commonly used and will help extend the life of roads by filling cracks, protecting against moisture incursion and minimizing potholes and other surface deformities.
“The addition of these new resurfacing methods to the Transportation Department’s Pavement Management Program will lead to increased, long-lasting improvements for our city’s streets,” Bezak said. “While these treatments take a little longer to complete, we know San Diegans will appreciate the results when the roads are in better condition and safer for all s.”
Cape seal involves the application of asphalt emulsion followed by a layer of crushed rock that must cure for three days before slurry seal is applied. During the three-day curing period, some loose crushed rock will be on the road surface until the final slurry seal is complete.
Scrub seal involves the application of asphalt emulsion followed by a layer of crushed rock that is swept into small cracks on the roadway. The asphalt emulsion and crushed rock cure and are then followed by an application of fog seal, a thin liquid oil that seals narrow cracks and provides a deep black surface color. During the curing period, pebble-size rocks will cover the road surface until the fog seal is complete.
During the process of both the cape and scrub seal, the street is closed to all traffic and no-parking signs are posted 72 hours in advance. Fliers are distributed to nearby residents.
The resurfacing applications often are completed in phases over several days or weeks.
