California charges excise and sales taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel for transportation-related purposes and allocates a percentage of the funding to cities and counties. This funding is known as the Highway Users Tax Account (HUTA), also referred to as the gas tax. Until 2017, the gas tax had not been updated in 23 years, and the State was confronted with a backlog of deferred infrastructure repairs for bridges, freeways, and roads.
In April 2017, the Governor signed Senate Bill 1 (SB1), the Road Repair and Accountability Act, into law. This legislation addresses road maintenance, rehabilitation, and safety needs of both the State highway system and local streets by increasing the per gallon fuel excise taxes, raising diesel fuel sales taxes, and charging new vehicle fees. SB 1 is estimated to generate $1.5 billion a year for California cities and counties for street maintenance efforts statewide. Since November 1, 2017, a portion of this new funding, called the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account (RMRA), has been apportioned by formula to eligible cities and counties for local street purposes.
In order for the City to be eligible to receive RMRA funds, the City must:
A) Adopt City budgets that include the proposed SB 1 street projects list.
B) Incorporate the SB 1 project list, including project description, locations, schedule, and estimated useful life, in the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), and submit the CIP to the California Transportation Commission annually by October 16.
C) Sustain a certain amount of local funding for streets, known as the Maintenance of Effort.
D) Report on the use of the funds annually.
Public Works has identified the proposed street projects based on the Street Saver Pavement Management System. Working with the Transportation Agency of Monterey County (TAMC) and their paving consultant, NCE, the City’s field condition assessment was performed in the Fall of 2022, and updated pavement rehabilitation strategies and cost information were recently incorporated into the Pavement Management System database.
Used by numerous agencies throughout California, the Street Saver System scientifically optimizes public funds by targeting pavement rehabilitation strategies to roadway segments which are about to slip into rapid decline, rather than allocating dollars to an agency’s most damaged pavement sections which will ultimately require more-costly, complete pavement section reconstructions. Public Works staff has slightly modified the Street Saver’s recommended roadway segment list due to other planned projects and by grouping similar pavement rehabilitation treatments to further optimize cost-effectiveness.
For Fiscal Year 2023/24, Public Works recommends that we focus on three primary categories of repairs: pavement overlays on a limited number of streets, provide less-costly slurry seal treatment on as many streets as the budget allows, and repair large sections of sidewalks that are beyond the capacity of staff. During the design phase of these street repairs, other street elements will be considered and incorporated into the project as appropriate. These elements may include bicycle markings, drainage, signage, trees and landscaping, and/or aesthetic enhancements.
When the City Council adopts the FY 2023/24 Capital Improvement Plan and Operating Budget, the project description for “Streets and Road Projects” will include the following lists of streets planned to be partially funded with HUTA and RMRA account revenues:
“Resurface the following streets with an asphalt overlay:
1. Ocean Avenue, Carpenter Street to East City Limits
2. Santa Lucia Avenue, Dolores Street to Rio Road
3. Sixth Avenue, Junipero to Torres Streets
4. Sixth Avenue, Monte Verde to Lincoln Streets
5. Tenth Avenue, Junipero to Torres Streets
Remove sections of failed pavement, and slurry seal the following road segments:
6. Dolores Street, Vista to Second Avenues
7. Dolores Street, Fifth to Ocean Avenues
8. Flanders Way, Vizcaino to Crespi Avenues
9. Forest Road, Ocean to Seventh Avenues
10. Guadalupe Street, Second to Third Avenues
11. Guadalupe Street, Fifth to Sixth Avenues
12. Lobos Street, First to Second Avenues
13. Mission Street, Ocean to Eighth Avenues
14. Monte Verde Street, Second to Fourth Avenues
15. Monterey Street, North End to Second Avenue
16. Perry Newberry Way, Fourth to Sixth Avenues
17. Pine Ridge Way, Forest Road to Turn Around
18. Santa Fe Street, Third to Fourth Avenues
19. Santa Rita Street, North City Limits to Mountain View Avenue
20. Second Avenue, Casanova to Monte Verde Streets
21. Sixth Avenue, Dolores to Mission Streets
22. Sixth Avenue, Guadalupe to Carpenter Streets
23. Third Avenue, Monte Verde to Dolores Streets
24. Torres Street, North of Eleventh Avenue
25. Vizcaino Avenue, Mountain View Avenue to Flanders Way
Remove broken areas of concrete, asphalt, and brick sidewalks, and replace with permeable pavers, where needed, along the following street segments:
26. Junipero Street – west side, Sixth to Ocean Avenues
27. Northwest Corner – Dolores Street and Seventh Avenue
28. Northwest Corner – Dolores Street and Sixth Avenue
29. Ocean Avenue - north side, Lincoln to Dolores Streets
30. Sixth Avenue – north side, Lincoln to Dolores Streets
31. Sixth Avenue – south side, Mission to Junipero Streets
32. Southeast Corner – Dolores Street and Ocean Avenue
Install ADA-compliant ramps at intersections and modify drainage as required. Provide bike route markings, restore traffic striping and pavement markings as indicated on the plans, and provide landscaping and/or trees to supplement the project.
Note: Currently, costs of roadway materials and construction labor are highly erratic due to construction labor shortages, busy contractors, supply chain issues, and inflation. Therefore, it is unknown at this time which, and to what extent, the above list of streets can be repaired. Further, local engineering design firms are facing staffing shortages and backlogs of work, leading to project delays. However, bundling similar projects with the same, or similar, pavement resurfacing treatments (asphalt overlays and slurry seals), will stretch the limited available funding in a cost-effective manner.
The useful life of the repaired road segments will depend on the pavement rehabilitation method selected for each street. An asphalt overlay may extend the useful life of the residential and collector streets by 20 to 25 years, and arterials (Ocean Avenue) by 15 to 20 years. A slurry seal may have a useful life of 5 to 10 years.
The design of this project is anticipated to begin by fall 2023 with construction occurring in the fall of 2024, following the busy summer season."