Why isn't my street on the list?
Sadly, we can’t get to every street that needs to be repaved in just three years and inevitably there are streets in your neighborhood that we won’t get to this time around. But just because we aren't fully repaving your street just yet doesn't mean we can't complete maintenance work in the meantime. Please use Oak311 to report potholes and areas of street deterioration.
The street next to my street is getting repaved, why can’t you pave my street too?
Across Oakland, any street prioritized for repaving is quite possibly next to one (or two or three!) streets that should be repaved as well. The proposed plan did seek to prioritize “neighbors” along same-named streets if the additional segments were also in very poor condition and were near schools, but this wasn’t always possible. Again, just because we aren't fully repaving your street just yet doesn't mean we can't complete maintenance work in the meantime. Please use Oak311 to report potholes and areas of street deterioration.
How was my street’s pavement condition index (PCI) calculated?
All 830+ miles of streets in Oakland are divided into “paving segments.” Paving segments are segments of streets that are relatively uniform in pavement structure (i.e. asphalt versus concrete), age, traffic volume, and type of traffic (i.e. trucks, buses, and/or autos). For each paving segment, a pavement rating is created. The pavement rating is conducted based on what are called “inspection units.” An inspection unit is just a smaller segment of the paving segment. The distress found in the inspection unit is used to calculate the PCI for the inspection unit rated. The PCI values of the inspection units in the section are then used to represent the condition of the entire section. For each inspection unit, a pavement condition rater personally visits the area. They record the severity and quantity of each distress type present in each inspection unit. Then, using all the inspection units for the paving segment, a composite rating index is calculated to create the Pavement Condition Index (PCI).
What is the City’s plan for utility coordination?
One of the perennial challenges to a pavement management program is the work that needs to take place underground. Some work is known in advance, such as pipeline replacements by utility companies, street excavations necessary for developing land, or sewer improvements through the City’s capital program. Other cuts are difficult to predict or contain, such as underground emergencies or private sewer lateral improvements. The Department of Transportation maintains coordination with utility companies on two levels: a monthly coordination meeting to identify near-term permits and conflicts with projects, and a quarterly meeting to establish a 12-month look-ahead for capital project coordination. In addition to individual project notification, these coordination meetings are part of a best-practice approach to ensure timely coordination and project sequencing to reduce subsequent cuts to newly repaved streets.
How was the decision made to prioritize based on equity?
The draft final plan prioritizes local streets based on a combination of street condition and equity factors. This follows two pieces of legislation and the Oakland Department of Race & Equity's Oakland Equity Indicators report. The 2016 Infrastructure Bond Ordinance established the following evaluation framework for projects funded by the bond: a) how the projects address social and geographic equity and provide greater benefit to underserved populations and in geographic areas of greatest need; b) how the projects address improvements to the City's existing core capital assets; c) how the projects maintain or decrease the City's existing operations and maintenance costs; and d) how the projects address improvements to energy consumption, resiliency and mobility. Then in 2018, the City Council adopted a Capital Improvement Program Prioritization Process, which established nine factors that would be used to prioritize the City of Oakland’s Capital Improvement Program. The areas receiving the most scoring weight included equity, health and safety, existing conditions, and economy.
Findings from the Oakland Department of Race & Equity’s Oakland Equity Indicators Project demonstrate broad disparity in services, resources, outcomes, and opportunities among underserved Oaklanders. Based on this, staff reviewed recent demographic data from the U.S. Census American Community Survey (ACS) to identify underserved populations. The definition of underserved populations is a population and/or community that have experienced historic or current disparities, reflected in the Oakland Equity Indicators report and consistent with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission equity analyses. This definition includes people of color, low-income households, people with disabilities, households with severe rent burden, people with limited English proficiency, and youth/seniors. These data points were used to help prioritize repaving based on underserved populations.
Was there any consideration for the bike network, pedestrian volumes, and AC Transit routes in choosing which streets to repave?
Approximately 10 street miles proposed in this plan have existing bikeways and are recommended for upgrades in Let’s Bike Oakland (the draft citywide bike plan), such as from standard bike lanes to buffered bike lanes or to protected bike lanes. Another 25 miles of this paving plan overlaps with recommended new bikeways in the draft bike plan. Together, these 35 miles account for approximately 34% of the paving plan, and 13.5% of the total project mileage recommendations in the draft bike plan.
The proposed plan also identifies approximately 30 miles of paving on streets with existing AC Transit bus service. With appropriate coordination and input from AC Transit, the Department of Transportation can incorporate routine improvements to bus stops along paving corridors, including adjusted red curbs and sidewalk repairs at bus stops to meet current safety and accessibility standards. The 30 miles of transit streets also offer the opportunity to coordinate with AC Transit on more significant changes to bus service, including bus stop optimization and transit priority elements, such as queue jump lanes. As with more significant bikeway improvements, these elements may warrant additional community outreach, to be determined on a project-by-project basis.
Were other requests like speed bumps, traffic calming measures, sidewalk repairs considered in prioritization?
While not part of the prioritization process, these improvements can generally be incorporated into paving projects. In fact, it's partly why the program prioritized repaving near schools: this offers a chance to coordinate implementation of Safe Routes to School safety improvements with repaving.