Our View: Modesto is on a ‘bad roads’ list; how do we get off?
Terry Withrow is an incredibly optimistic person, usually. For instance, he believes there could be a solution for the area’s water issues if people will focus on shared well-being rather than ideal, but unattainable, solutions.
But even Withrow, chair of the Stanislaus County board of supervisors, is having trouble figuring out what we’re going to do about roads.
The National Transportation Research Group issued a report this week week putting Modesto 20th on a nationwide list for poorest roads. The group says 30 percent of our metropolitan region’s roads are in poor condition. Worse, it says on average drivers spend an additional $636 per year more on car maintenance and repairs than do drivers in less impacted areas.
The list included metropolitan areas with populations from 250,000 to 500,000, and put Stockton at No. 15 (34 percent bad roads). Others included Lansing, Mich. (No. 10), Santa Rosa (No. 3) and Antioch (No. 2). The worst roads belonged to Flint, Mich., whose drivers spend $839 per year more on reparis and maintenance due to lousy roads. Bigger cities have bigger problems. Drive to the Bay Area, says the report, and you’ll find 53 percent of San Jose’s roads in poor condition; in No. 3 Concord it’s 62 percent, and (drum roll, please) the metro area with the highest percentage of poor roads is San Francisco-Oakland (74 percent). Drivers cough up an additional $1,044 in car expenses per year.
How do we get off this lousy list?
“I don’t know,” said Withrow. “We’ve got to figure something out.”
He noted that the federal, state and local taxes built into the price of gas have been flat or falling for 15 years. As cars become more fuel-efficient, or switch to electricity, drivers buy less gas and tax revenues go down. Helps the air; hurts the roads.
A report says there is a backlog of $73 million of deferred maintenance on the county’s 1,500 miles of roads. Each year, county roads need $24 million in maintenance to stay even, but the county can budget only $10 million. The “pavement condition index” gives county’s roads a score of 55 out of 100. Worse, two-thrids of the maintenance needs for 225 bridges is going unmet.
We could vote in a self-help sales tax, like those collected in roughly 20 California counties. Unfortunately, from the recent list it doesn’t seem to be a reliable solution. San Joaquin is a self-help county, and Stockton’s roads are worse than Modesto’s. Los Angeles is also self-help, but it’s No. 2 on the big-city list with 73 percent of its roads in poor condition.
We can hope for an increase in the federal tax on gasoline, which might result in more money being sent to states and local governments. We emphasize might.
Using gas taxes for roads was a great idea when all cars needed gas, but with hybrids and electric cars needing so much less – but still using the roads – it’s becoming far less fair and doesn’t allow all drivers to contribute their share. Georgia is charging driver $200 per electric car; in Washington it’s half that and $112 for a hybrid. Colorado, Nebraska, North Carolina and Virginia also have EV fees. Oregon is testing a per-mile fee for all vehicles, which would be fair if there’s an honest way to calculate it.
A high-tech version of toll roads is being used in some major cities as a means of traffic control. Cars are equipped with monitors (think Fast Trac), and as traffic increases the cost to use the road goes up. We could use the technology to figure out who is using specific roads then charging those drivers enough to help fix the potholes.
Don’t like that idea? Neither do we. But, as Withrow said, we need to figure something out. And if that something isn’t a sales tax, what will it be?
Drought, poverty and farmworkers
Hopefully, you recall the story in our special Community Converation: Water edition from Noe Paramo, where he detailed the plight of farmworkers in the drought. Many are out of work and a few, in places like Porterville and Firebaugh, are out of water. Paramo will be among the guests of Maddy Institute deputy director Ana Melendez when they discuss “Poverty in California” this week on Univision or through the institute’s podcast (www.maddyinstitute.com).
This story was originally published July 24, 2015 at 4:31 PM with the headline "Our View: Modesto is on a ‘bad roads’ list; how do we get off?."