Posted on 10/02/2006 7:55:06 PM PDT by FairOpinion
SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--California motorists are footing the bill as five of the state’s metropolitan regions rank in the Top Ten urban areas with the roughest pavements in the nation.
In a report released today, TRIP, a national transportation research group, found that among large urban regions (500,000+ population), the areas with the greatest share of major roads and highways with pavements in poor condition are: San Jose, Los Angeles, San Francisco-Oakland, Kansas City, New Orleans (pre-Katrina), San Diego, Sacramento, St. Louis, Omaha and New York City.
TRIP found that a quarter of the nation’s major metropolitan roads – interstates, freeways and other critical local routes – have pavements in poor condition, resulting in rough rides. By contrast, in California cities on the top 10 list, one-half to two-thirds of pavements are rated poor.
These poor roads create additional vehicle operating costs (accelerated vehicle deterioration, additional maintenance needs and increased fuel consumption). In California’s biggest urban areas, poor roads cost the average motorist more than $600 a year, and approximately $700 a year in the San Jose and Los Angeles areas. That compares with a $383 national average. Five California urban areas ranked in the top six costliest: San Jose, Los Angeles, San Francisco-Oakland, Kansas City, San Diego, Sacramento, New Orleans (pre-Katrina), Oklahoma City, Omaha and St. Louis.
“Our failure to keep up our transportation system has hurt motorists directly in the pocketbook and weakened our economy,” says Mark Watts, executive director of Transportation California, the state’s leading education and advocacy group for transportation. “It is critical that we follow through on the steps that have been taken over the past two years to overcome decades of neglect. The longer we wait, the more costly it will be to shape up our roads.”
Watts says the State has made considerable strides by fully funding Proposition 42 (the sales tax on gasoline, which had previously been diverted to the General Fund) in the last two State budgets, and now by putting two measures on the November ballot to significantly improve roads and bridges.
“California has begun to overcome the slumlord mentality that has allowed the disintegration of our transportation infrastructure,” Watts says. Proposition 1A, which directs a substantial amount of funding to local streets and roads, would provide better protection so that the sales tax on gasoline would be harder to divert away from transportation. Proposition 1B would allow the state to issue bonds for $19.9 billion in transportation programs over the next 10 years.
According to the TRIP report, the continuing increase in urban traffic is putting significant wear and tear on the nation’s urban roads. Overall travel on urban roads increased by 38 percent from 1990 to 2004; urban travel by large commercial trucks grew at an even faster rate, increasing by 51 percent from 1990 to 2004. Large trucks place significant stress on road surfaces. Overall vehicle travel is expected to increase by approximately 33 percent by the year 2020 and the level of heavy truck travel nationally is projected to increase by approximately 39 percent by 2020.
With current funding, TRIP says pavement conditions are likely to worsen. A U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) report to Congress indicates that through 2022 the nation will fall short of the cost of maintaining current urban pavement conditions by $76 billion and will fall short of making significant repairs by $138 billion. Maintaining urban roads in their current condition would require increasing current funding for road repairs by 40 percent and it would take a 73 percent increase to significantly improve urban pavement conditions.
“Smoother roads are ahead for us in California if we continue in the direction with full Proposition 42 funding, renewed investment in maintenance and rehabilitation, and focused projects to address the state’s vigorous growth in goods movement and traffic congestion – both of which exact a toll on our roads,” Watts predicts.
The % of roads in "good" condition in CA's major cities is in single digits, as in less than 10%.
THIS Is why we need the Prop. 1B, the roads infrastructure bond.
CA hit the worst state in the nation based on roadconditions in 2001 and things have just continued to get worse.
More info at
http://www.tripnet.org
"The ten urban regions with at least 500,000 people, which includes the city
and its surrounding suburbs, with the greatest share of major roads and
highways with pavements that are in substandard condition and provide a
rough ride are: San Jose – 66 %, Los Angeles – 65 %, San Francisco –
Oakland – 58 %, Kansas City – 58 %, New Orleans (pre-Katrina) – 56 %,
San Diego – 54 %, Sacramento – 50 %, St. Louis – 46 %, Omaha – 46 %
and New York City – 45 %."
How did Michigan miss this list? You could always tell when you hit the Michigan border on Hwy 23 by the sound of the potholes...
Still can.
We were having the discussion about Prop. 1B, the roads infrastructure bond. This report shows that we are reaching criticality.
Look at the tables in the article ( I don't know how to post tables).
Only 3% of LA and SF's roads qualify as "good", over 60% are bad, and the rest mediocre.
Fresno is leading with 13% of their roads qualifying as "good".
As I said, we have reached almost emergency status on need for road repair.
I don't drive California roads very frequently anymore, but I do about once a year.
I'm not surprised that Texas didn't make that list. When I moved here from California I was shocked in the difference between roads. Most country roads in Texas (called FM or farm to market roads) are smooth as glass.
Not dissing California. The roads leading into the Sierras get more traffic and harsher weather conditions than Texas does. But the conditions exist statewide in both states.
Have any of you driven I-35 between Oklahoma City and Dallas? It's like driving on a cobblestone road. Maybe it's me though.
You obviously haven't been driving in CA.
Obviously the judges who made this determination have never been to PENNSYLVANIA!
Huh? No Pennsylvania? The land of PennDOT's orange cones? What gives?
Look at the list on this pdf file:
http://www.tripnet.org/RoughRideReportApxAOct2006.pdf
The cities with single digit % of good roads are in CA.
We posted a little over a minute apart...great minds, you know...
Heck yeah! I'm in connecticut, but have to agree with that. I-84 in NY sucks pretty bad, too.
Prop 1B won't help anything. Arnolds 'green' friends in city and county government have decided that if they don't pave roads then people won't drive their cars. So they stopped and are criminally letting our infrastructure disintegrate.
California's budget expanded this year because revenues increased from all the taxes we are paying for high energy costs among other things. Why doesn't the governor use that windfall to pay for it instead of burdening Californians for untold generations with horrific bond indebtedness?
these beloved illegal aliens, cannot support the infrastructure it takes to keep this state going. They live on welfare, or work very low income jobs. If these dems in the assembly and senate think they are going to base an entire state economy on them, they will continue to be at the bottom of the 50 state heap for everything. I really don't think they care.
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