Brent Barnes, San Benito County Resource Management Agency director, per direction of Board of Supervisors Chairman Jaime De La Cruz, gave his first monthly update Jan. 24 on the state of county roads — and it was full of potholes.
Barnes began with a brief recap of a presentation presented to both the county and the Hollister City Council, explaining various road conditions, the causes for wear and potential costs to maintain them.
He started the presentation on a light note, showing a slide of a sign next to a road that is not maintained that stated the county was “not responsible for loss or injury for using it.” He joked that the road was in Supervisor Jerry Muenzer’s district, near the abandoned mining town of New Idria. Muenzer quipped back that the sign was in the best condition he’d ever seen it.
“Usually it’s all shot up,” he said.
Barnes continued to describe the two main causes for road deterioration: weather and traffic, particularly the transportation of heavy loads. He said road wear is measured in PCIs (pavement condition index) from 100 for roads in perfect condition to zero. He said anything below a PCI of 30 is considered a failed condition. He said one road in Supervisor Anthony Botelho’s district is the only road he has ever seen with a PCI of zero, which is essentially a gravel road that remains in the “approved roads” inventory.
“We looked at every mile of road we own in San Benito County,” Barnes said. “There are almost 340 miles of maintained roads. Only about 12 percent of them are minor arterials (high-capacity urban roads) and the vast majority are collector roads (with low- to moderate-capacity). There are over 39 million square feet of pavement in the county. The replacement cost of that today would be $389 million.”
Most of the roads in the county have a PCI of 37, Barnes said, whereas the desired PCI is 70. He said the county, for the most part, has paid more attention to the arterial roads at the cost of not maintaining collector roads. He said in order to bring up the PCI to an acceptable level of 60-70 throughout the county, almost every road would have to be reconstructed.
“We have virtually no maintenance budget for our roads,” he said. “Only about a half million dollars a year, and that has been dedicated solely to resolving conditions that are life-threatening. We are falling further down the curve each year. We’re basically following a zero-investment line. In order to move the PCI from 37 to just 42 would require $14.5 million annually.”
The public works department is prepared to focus on the least expensive strategies first in order to save the best roads in addition to a long-range plan to deal with the poorly maintained roads, Barnes said. Botelho commented that a constituent had contacted him about the condition of Riverside Road (connecting Union Road to Nash Road), which he described as a major collector road.
“There are chuckholes that wide and that deep,” he said as he motioned with outstretched arms. “I couldn’t believe it. The point that needs to be made is that public works road crew have done a phenomenal job of going out there and filling potholes every two or three weeks. Constituents have no issue whatsoever with the performance of our public works folks. But they do have a point, and I’ve said this for years, the private property along that road, the farmers, who turn their tractors and drop mud on the road that pulls the oil out of road to create these potholes need to be fined and enforcement action needs to be taken.”
Botelho said he is pro-agriculture, but he’s also in favor of taking care of the roads.
“They need to be given stiff citations,” he said of farmers whose equipment adds to the degradation of rural roads. “The other area we need to do something to protect these public assets is address these trucks that are going to these processing plants. They need to stay more on state highways and come around on key routes. San Justo Road is going to be in pieces because these trucks are taking a shortcut. We have to find some enforcement mechanism to prevent that from happening. Perhaps signage on the highway. Of course, it takes an act of Congress to get a sign out on 156, but we have to do it.”
Barnes responded that public works has noticed that many of the roadside ditches that were designed to take water away from the roads have been filled in with dirt because of farming activities.
“That creates a nice shoulder, but it also allows the water to simply float across the pavement,” he said. “There are a variety of issues we need to resolve. With regard to truck routing, I absolutely agree. This is not an easy issue because of interstate commerce restrictions on truck routing, so it’s something that must be approached very cautiously.”
Muenzer said they need to figure out multiple funding sources to pay for road repairs and maintenance.
“Five hundred thousand dollars just doesn’t cut it,” he said. “I could spend $500,000 filling potholes in my district and I wouldn’t get all of them filled.”
The county, he said, needs to put pressure on the state regarding gas taxes, especially as more people drive electric cars or high-mileage vehicles.
“We have all these roads that are in bad shape, but if we’re not willing to start doing something and figure out funding there’s no point in even hearing the presentation,” Muenzer said.
De La Cruz asked if there was a way to create a matrix to show which roads residents use most often. Barnes said public works is conducting traffic counts for the first time in many years to determine where the trucks actually travel. He said seeking out funding sources is a complex issue when dealing with the state, which considers local funding highly desirable.
“If we, as a county, can bring homegrown funding to a project, that raises the fundability of that project up by an expediential amount, in the eyes of Caltrans” he said. “You have to have a local match of as much as 50 percent, and sometimes more.”
One of the best ways to generate funds is with toll roads, as well, Barnes said.
“They’re a huge generator of funds,” he said. “If there were a toll road of some kind in the county that would be a guaranteed source of local funding forever. I don’t know quite how to do that yet or if it’s even a useful idea. I just want to plant it and let it simmer. It will be one of the strategies we’ll be looking at as an option as we go through the year.”
Muenzer said, as he understood it, any money collected from tolls could only be spent on those roads. Barnes told him funds could be spent on other roads.
“It depends on how the San Benito Highway Authority is set up,” Barnes said.
Still wanting to do something to repair potholes in the near term, even if on a small scale, Botelho first asked if the county even has the manpower to work on cracks and other minor repairs during summer months. Barnes said the short answer was “no.”
“Another suggestion that I have,” offered Botelho, “is that maybe during the summer we develop an intern program and hire a couple high school kids. There’s no reason a high school kid can’t work on a road with asphalt or run some oil in a crack. It’s not hard work. Bring them on on a temporary basis. You don’t have to pay them any benefits to the extent of permanent county employees. Or maybe jail people can go out and help our road crew.”
Barnes told Botelho the county already does use the work-release program.
“We have two crews of work-release folks,” he said, “for less technical work, picking up trash, mowing brush, those sorts of things.”
Botelho said he was deeply concerned about the roads and even contemplated not running for another term.
“I see the deterioration and this year it’s just the start,” he said. “If people don’t believe it just drive on Riverside Road right now or Bixby Road after a rain.”
Supervisor Robert Rivas said it’s obvious the county has a crisis on its hands.
“This is not only a San Benito County problem, it’s a statewide problem,” he said. “It’s a national problem. Moving forward is going to require great levels of advocacy on our part, as well as our representatives in Sacramento and the federal government.”
Rivas told Barnes he has a rough idea of how roads are funded. He suggested the next update that should include a detailed breakdown of the amount of money the country receives from various sources.
“Sacramento has a certain number of legislative bills packaged together that seem to address this crisis,” Rivas said. “Having that advocacy through our representatives in Sacramento is important because this is our No. 1 issue for our state. Obviously, it needs to be on our radar in San Benito County. That would be helpful so we all know what we need to advocate for.”
Barnes said he would provide information on historic and existing road funding, as well as what’s being considered for the future.
De La Cruz commented that he had spoken recently to Hollister Mayor Ignacio Velasquez and City Councilman Roy Sims about the Save Our Roads program and that the League of Cities was also involved.
“You’re right, Supervisor Rivas, we have to be more active,” he said.
During public comments, Kristina Chavez Wyatt, speaking as a member of the San Benito County Business Council, said the council had secured Carl Guardino as keynote speaker for the April 6 Business Council meeting as she invited the supervisors to attend.
“One of the reasons we invited him, in addition to being the (Chief) Executive Officer of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, is he’s also a key member of the governor’s transportation commission,” she said. “and he’s fresh off his success of Measure B, the Nov. 26 Road Tax Campaign for Santa Clara County that garnered 72 percent approval rate, bringing in $6.5 million in road and transportation improvements for Santa Clara County.”
Wyatt said San Benito County and Santa Clara County are partners as many people commute from one to the other to work.
“We need to work on ways to partner and learn from their success,” she concluded.
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