San Rafael, CA – The condition of Marin County’s roads could soon be improving at a faster rate than ever, thanks to California Senate Bill 1 (SB1). The bill, also referred to as the Road Repair and Accountability Act, will generate $54 billion for statewide transportation improvements over the next decade. Once fully realized, cities and counties are expected to receive a total of $1.5 billion annually for the next 10 years from SB1, portioned out per capita.
More than 10 miles of roadway is targeted for resurfacing in unincorporated areas of Marin with the boost in state funding. According to projections, the
Marin County Department of Public Works (DPW) will be provided with an average of $4.1 million per year from SB1 for use on roads in the unincorporated areas of Marin. Due to the partial implementation of SB1, which was signed by Governor Brown on April 28, DPW anticipates receiving $1.36 million during the 2017-2018 fiscal year. The Marin County Board of Supervisors plans to vote on the authorization of this funding increase at its October 3 meeting.
At the start of the 2016-2017 fiscal year, the Supervisors labeled Marin’s road quality and traffic congestion as a top priority and increased funding for it. The Board committed an additional $1 million per year to its ongoing roads budget plus a one-time boost of $2 million, bringing the total allocation to $10.5 million for road improvement projects for the 2016-2017 fiscal year.
The biennial California Statewide Local Streets and Roads Needs Assessment, released October 2016, showed that Marin’s county, cities, and towns need to spend an estimated $458 million over the next 10 years just to maintain the current road condition. Of that total, the County-maintained roads would cost an estimated $190 million. The new funding from SB1 will help move all local agencies toward that goal.
Accountability measures are a significant component of SB1. Each year, Marin County is required to produce a list of proposed roads projects for approval by the Board of Supervisors, as well as annual reporting of SB1 expenditures to the California Transportation Commission. The initial list submitted for review includes $6 million in priority roads projects slated for summer 2018, which is only a portion of the road work intended to be conducted next year by DPW. While the list’s price tag is higher than the $1.36 million that’s expected this year, the list provides flexibility for unforeseen scheduling conflicts.
The proposed list of nine roads encompasses 10.09 miles of roadway across unincorporated areas of Marin. The identified roads are Point Reyes Petaluma Road near Point Reyes Station, and Lucas Valley Road close to Nicasio Valley Road; Laverne Avenue, Reed Street, and Cleveland Avenue in the Homestead Valley area; Belvedere Avenue, Carlotta Circle and Milland Drive in Strawberry; and Van Tassel Court in Sleepy Hollow. Safety and drainage upgrades, as well as improvements for both motorized and nonmotorized traffic flow, will be addressed.
“Having this boost in funding will allow us to work on our backlog of maintenance and close the gap on making our roads safer and more sustainable across the county,” said Ernest Klock, DPW Assistant Director. “Getting a jump on fixing these deteriorating roadways will end up costing far less than if we had to leave them to be fully replaced at a future time.”