Napa County, Calistoga road ratings improve
Plenty of potholes still around, especially for St. Helena
By Kevin Courtney
For The Weekly Calistogan
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
In the wake of recent heavy rains, potholes have been popping up like mushrooms, suggesting that local streets and roads, not known for smooth sailing, are hitting new lows.
“In the past few weeks it’s definitely gotten worse,” said Hannah Euser of Napa who swerves back and forth on Beard Road to avoid potholes. “I hope nobody pulls me over,” she said of her slalom driving.
Jason Tinacci thought he knew rough pavement from having grown up in Brooklyn, but now he’s reconsidering. “It’s kind of amazing how it’s worse here,” he said Monday.
As jarring as potholes can be, Napa road conditions are actually looking up, local public works directors report.
Both the city of Napa and Napa County got improved pavement report cards this month from the Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
In measurable ways, city streets and county roads are in slightly better condition than a couple of years ago, although they still rate as “at risk,” a small step up from “poor,” the MTC said.
Yountville and Calistoga also bumped up a notch in the MTC’s rating scheme, while American Canyon and St. Helena earned lower scores.
On the MTC’s 100-point scale, American Canyon was the top-rated local jurisdiction with a “good” score of 75. Yountville, with a score of 67, rated “fair.” As a relatively new city, many of American Canyon’s streets have been built within the past decade.
Clustered in the “at risk” category were Calistoga, 59; Napa, 55, and Napa County, 55. St. Helena, at 48, brought up the rear, its streets rated “poor.”
Napa and Napa County call their MTC scores misleading. Reflecting three-year averages, they don’t fully reflect how much new asphalt has been laid down recently, officials said.
According to Don Ridenhour, the county’s public works director, the county’s true rating in 2009 was 62, its highest score in years.
Anyone who has traveled on Silverado Trail, Hardman Avenue, Deer Park Road or within Circle Oaks subdivision in recent months would see the improvement, Ridenhour said.
But if your travels take you on the county’s rougher roads, and there are many, you might beg to differ, Ridenhour conceded.
Jacques LaRochelle, Napa’s public works director, said the city’s actual pavement rating for 2009 was 57, with the likelihood that Napa will break into “fair” territory with a score of 61 when this summer’s paving schedule is accomplished.
“Fair” would be a huge accomplishment for a city with a $112 million backlog in street maintenance needs, LaRochelle said.
Two years ago, Napa was fifth from the bottom of the Bay Area barrel, LaRochelle said. The just-released MTC report had Napa climbing to 12th from the bottom.
If Napa can achieve a 61, there would be several dozen Bay Area cities and counties worse off than we are, LaRochelle said.
Because he is on a paving mission, LaRochelle said he is eager to play the MTC pavement ratings game.
Napa is rising in the ratings because of one-time federal stimulus money and a reorganized Public Works Department that does much of its own paving, saving money over hiring private contractors, LaRochelle said.
City crews did 6.6 miles of asphalt overlays last summer, with a goal of 10 miles by June 30. Then they will start on another 10 miles of residential streets, he said.
In addition, contractors finished a mile of major street paving last year, with another three miles to be finished when dry weather returns, LaRochelle said.
These additional miles include First and Second streets between Highway 29 and Jefferson Street as well as portions of Solano Avenue and Soscol Avenue.
Yet another 1.6 miles representing all of East Avenue and a portion of Main Street will be put under contract soon, he said.
The city is getting more pavement laid at a cheaper price by using its own crew, LaRochelle said. Given how bad the city’s streets had become in recent years, Napa needed to try a different approach to stop the slide, he said.
The local operating engineers union challenged the city’s do-it-yourself program, which reduces work opportunities for private contractors, LaRochelle told the City Council last week.
There will always be contracts for the private sector, but the lion’s share of residential work will fall to city employees who now have the necessary equipment, he said.
LaRochelle told the council that he is thinking of expanding the city’s role, working with homeowners to fix sidewalks and curbs and gutters with city workers.
While both Napa and Napa County have made progress, Ridenhour and LaRochelle said they will never makes local streets top quality with existing financial resources.
Ultimately, county voters may need to pass a transportation sales tax, an approach that was once rejected at the ballot, Ridenhour said.
LaRochelle said he wants to regain the public’s trust before talking of new taxes. “We are the real deal,” he said. “We can be trusted with the small amount of money we have.”
Napa County is worried that the Legislature will siphon off gas tax revenue intended for local roads to help balance the state’s continuing financial crisis, Ridenhour said.
Even with full gas tax funding, Napa County will be short $71 million of what it will take to maintain roads over the next decade, he said.
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maldetesta wrote on Feb 6, 2010 4:35 PM:
Drive on Grant and tell me how much you think that upgrade cost the city?
Calistoga just spent about $400 THOUSAND on an Urban Design Plan the community hates - but they cry poor when it's time to fix the streets.
Who do they think they are kidding? "