“Rougher roads ahead? Officials say extension of Measure A is the way to be street-smart in Long Beach,” but, why isn’t Long Beach spending more on streets with existing Measure A funds? Overall, our city’s streets ranked up there as the worst streets in California! The average Long Beach motorist is reportedly spending ~$1,000 per year in expenses because of vehicle deterioration and depreciation, increased maintenance, fuel consumption and tire wear.
The Long Beach Public Works Department claims they need a more than $50 million-a-year investment over the next 10 years to get to a “good” overall street rating. But for the last three years, the City has budgeted, and projects to budget, only approximately $30 million per year. This year, the Long Beach City Council approved $34.8 million, but that is still 32% less than required. Residents are paying increased taxes from Measure A, Los Angeles County Measure M, California State Gas tax etc., but still, street funding is not at the level required.
Reportedly, passage of Measure A in 2016 would allow the City to invest in needed repair and maintenance of all our eligible streets, reducing further decline. That is not the case. Street liability is now well over $500 million and getting worse! Public Works stated the main cost factor is that the number of very poor streets are increasing. In Fiscal Year 2015, poor streets represented 20% with an estimated reconstruction cost of $205 million; but in 2017, poor streets increased to 22% with an estimated reconstruction cost of $309 million. That is an increase of over $100 million every two years!
City officials now are warning residents that, if voters do not approve an extension of Measure A in the next election, streets will become even worse. The fact is, only 10% of Measure A revenues went to improving our streets this year, and only 4% last year. Back in FY 2017, when Measure A was passed, 46% of its revenue went toward streets. Streets are getting worse because of inadequate City budgeting, not because residents are not being taxed enough. City officials: Why isn’t the City spending at the level that is required to improve our neglected streets with existing Measure A revenues, as well as the additional county, state and city taxes being received?
Jim Hines
Long Beach resident
In cities with populations of 500,000 or more, San Francisco, City of Los Angeles (LA) and Long Beach topped the 2015 list for the worst road conditions in the country. See https://www.yahoo.com/amphtml/news/bad-roads-cost-car-owners-162300817.html
Since then The City of Los Angeles has invested in their streets. Their streets are now at a Pavement Condition Index of 70 or a Good level. LA further plans to have a PCI of 75 by 2025. See their metrics https://app.powerbigov.us/view?r=eyJrIjoiZjZiZDcwMDctMzcyNC00YWZlLWIyOWItNTRlMGFjNWEwYzBhIiwidCI6ImVmNzM5MTQ4LWQ1YWEtNGVkYS1hNzk1LTQ4ZTY0NTgyM2Y2MyJ9
On the other hand in 2017 Long Beach streets were 62 or Fair. The impact of existing Measure A funding, etc. on street infrastructure will not be known for a long time! City officials don’t plan to perform the next Pavement Condition Index (PCI) assessments until 2020 for arterial streets and 2022 for residential streets and alleys. Note well after any Measure A Extension Vote.
Long Beach (LB) also has a considerable investment in alleys with a combined replacement value in excess of $185 million dollars. In 2017 Public Works reported LB alleys had a Pavement Condition Index of 56 (fair to marginal) with a very poor to poor backlog of 22%. They recommended the level of funding for the Alley roadway network to be $6.0 M/year in order to keep the Pavement Condition Index (PCI) at or above 60 ( its fair to marginal condition) but lowering the backlog to 15%. However, City Officials decided on a budget of only $1.8 M per year. Over the next 5 years this level of funding worsens the alleys’ PCI from 56 to 51 over the next 5 years and only slightly decrease the backlog to 21%. Furthermore it does not convert gravel to paved alleys. With extra monies from Measure A, LA County Measure M, CA State Gas, etc why can’t LB residents get our streets and alleys in better condition. See http://www.longbeach.gov/globalassets/pw/media-library/documents/alley-management-plan-report
Long Beach (LB) has a serious pothole problem. Every day LB residents seem to be on an obstacle course avoiding potholes on one side of the street then the other. Public Works (PW) use to have pothole metrics. Metrics were (1) 4000 pothole repairs monthly and (2) a pothole repair response time of 15 days. However, since FY 18 City officials stopped pothole metrics seemingly because the performance is so bad! In FY 17 PW made less than 3400 repairs per month and the last metric reported on the 15-day response time was 22%. In FY 17 even after Measure A passage, Public Works reported they lack the resources required. Why aren’t our streets given the attention they need as residents pay more and more on car repairs and taxes?