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 (SB 1), 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:
- Adopt City budgets that include the proposed SB 1 street projects list.
- 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.
- Sustain a certain amount of local funding for streets, known as the Maintenance of Effort (MOE).
- Report on the use of the funds annually.
Public Works has identified the proposed street projects based on the Street Saver Pavement Management System. In the Fall of 2022 working with the Transportation Agency of Monterey County (TAMC) and their paving consultant, NCE, the City’s field condition assessment was reanalyzed, and the updated pavement rehabilitation strategies and cost information were 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.
Formation of the "Conglomerate Paving Project FY 24-25" was formulated as follows:
Due to higher than anticipated construction bids received for the Annual Paving Project for FY 21-22, four additive bid items were not awarded for the construction contract. The bid items were for asphalt overlays along San Antonio Avenue, between Fourth and Ocean Avenues, San Antonio, between Ocean and Eighth Avenues, Monte Verde Street, between Fourth and Ocean Avenues, and along Torres Street, from Second to Fourth Avenues. All four of these bid additives, have a construction cost estimate of $835,000. All four of these street segments will be included in the Conglomerate Paving Project FY 24-25.
Secondly, the FY 22-23 Concrete Street Repairs Project which for the design is complete is "shovel ready" for construction; however, the construction cost estimate is nearly $3 million. Therefore, the majority of this project will be shelved until future capital funding becomes available. However, the reconstruction of the San Antonio-Ocean Avenue intersection which has a cost estimate of $293,000 will be included Conglomerate Paving Project FY 24-25.
In addition, in April 2023, Council adopted a list of streets to be included in the FY 23-24 Annual Paving Project. The City’s annual Maintenance of Effort funding ($674,000 for FY 24-25) leverages external funds via TAMC from Measure X, Gas Tax, SB 1 - the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account (RMRHA), and the Regional Surface Transportation Program (RSTIP). This project included design and construction of asphalt pavement overlays of nine roadway segments, including Upper Ocean Avenue and Santa Lucia Avenue, between Dolores Street and Rio Road, removal of failed pavement sections and providing a slurry seal treatment on 21 road segments predominately in residential neighborhoods, and replacing broken sidewalks with permeable pavers along five road segments in the downtown area.
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, Guadalupe Street to Carpenter Street
4. Tenth Avenue, Junipero to Mission Streets
5. San Antonio Avenue, Fourth Avenue to Ocean Avenue
6. San Antonio Avenue, Ocean Avenue to Eight Avenue
7. Monte Verde Street, Fourth Avenue to Ocean Avenue
8. Torres Street, Second Avenue to Fourth Avenue
9. San Antonio Avenue and Ocean Avenue Intersection
Remove sections of failed pavement, and slurry seal the following road segments:
1. Second Avenue, Casanova to Monte Verde Streets
2. Third Avenue, Monte Verde to Dolores Streets
3. Sixth Avenue, Junipero to Torres Streets
4. Sixth Avenue, Monte Verde Street to Lincoln Street
5. Sixth Avenue, Dolores to Mission Streets
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. Torres Street, North of Eleventh Avenue
21. 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:
1. Junipero Street – west side, Sixth to Ocean Avenues
2. Northwest Corner – Dolores Street and Seventh Avenue
3. Northwest Corner – Dolores Street and Sixth Avenue
4. Sixth Avenue – south side, Mission to Junipero Streets
5. Southeast Corner – Dolores Street and Ocean Avenue
Install ADA-compliant ramps at intersections and modify drainage as required. 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 currently in design and anticipated to begin with construction in the fall of 2024, following the busy summer season."