Politics & Government

Pothole Report: Mill Valley's Roads Need Work

Metropolitian Transportation Commission's study of Bay Area roadways puts Mill Valley on the low end of the "fair" category, below most cities and towns in Marin.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) released its report on the state of Bay Area roads last week, and for Mill Valley, it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing.

The report (attached at right) was based on analysis of pavement conditions conducted by individual jurisdictions. It listed the pavement condition index (PCI) score for all nine counties and 101 cities in the Bay Area.

Mill Valley ranked in the bottom half of the “Fair” category with a score of 61 (out of 100) in 2010, below the Bay Area average of 66 and just one point above “the 60-point threshold at which deterioration accelerates rapidly and the need for major rehabilitation becomes much more likely,” according to the report.

Find out what's happening in Mill Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The MTC has established a 75-point score as a target for roadway quality in the long-range Transportation 2035 Plan it adopted in 2009. While Mill Valley trailed most Marin towns and cities on the list, including Belvedere at 84 and San Rafael at 75, it did rank ahead of unincorporated Marin County at 52 and Larkspur, the only Marin town in the “Poor” category, at 45.

Mill Valley’s roads have also worsened in recent years. The city scored a PCI of 64 in 2006 and a 62 in 2007. The city spent $3.76 million in street maintenance and repairs in the 2009-2010 fiscal year, according to a filing with the state controller’s office.

Find out what's happening in Mill Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Despite the below average local roadway conditions, Jill Barnes, Mill Valley’s Interim Public Works Director, said help is on the way. The City Council’s passage earlier this month of a – from $297 this year to $600 in 2011-2012 - allows the city to pick up the pace of its street repairs, according to Barnes.

“Because of the sewer rate increase, we’ll be able to make improvements to streets that have sewer pipes under them in need of repair or replacement,” she said. “We had been putting them on hold until we had the money to pay for sewer upgrades, since we don’t want to repair a street and then have to tear it up again to replace the sewer line.”

Barnes cited Mountain View Avenue as an example of a street in need of repairs that has been slowed by the city’s desire to fix both the street and the sewer line below it in parallel.

“And we hope to get moving a bit faster on maintaining and improving our streets all over the city,” she said.

Pavement Condition Index (PCI) for Bay Area Jurisdictions, 2006–2010:

Town/City Total Lane Miles PCI 2006 PCI 2010 Very Good (PCI= 80–89) Belvedere 24 81 84 Good (PCI=70–79) San Rafael 331  63 75 Novato 318  65 73* Corte Madera 64 73  72* Tiburon 68 64 70 Fair (PCI=60–69) Fairfax 55 69 69 Ross 22 64 67 Sausalito  54 69 63* Mill Valley 117 64  61 At-Risk (PCI=50-59) San Anselmo 80 59  55** Marin County 848 48  52 Poor (PCI=25–49) Larkspur 64 51 45 Bay Area 42,499 64 66

* 3-year moving average score is an estimate based on inspections done in 2008.
** 3-year moving average score is an estimate based on inspections done in 2007.
*** 3-year moving average score is an estimate based on inspections done in 2006.


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