Napa County stakeholders forge ahead with plan for succesful road repair measure

A recent article in the Napa Valley Register ("Panel agrees on terms of road tax") highlights the third San Francisco Bay Area county that has or plans to put a measure on the ballot that help fund each counties deteriorating roadways. As highlighted in a previous post, San Francisco already has a measure on the books for this weeks election and San Jose has stated that they are in favor of holding an election as well (San Jose's DOT Director discusses the state of the city's roadways and how to repair them).

All three measures or proposed measures differ though in how they go about raising sorely needed road funds. San Jose would like to increase parcel taxes to fund their severely underfunded system. San Francisco would like to be allowed to sell bonds that would be retired through the general fund. Napa County would like to extend an existing sales tax.

In a recent Metropolitan Transportation Commision Report (The Pothole Report: Can the Bay Area Have Better Roads), Napa County roads over the last several years had some of the lowest PMI's (Pavement Condition Index) within the nine Bay Area Counties. In fact, recently the Napa County Transportation and Planning Agency voted to allocate nearly $4 million in state Transportation Improvement Program funds to the maintenence of local streets. Althougn not unprecedented the request for these funds, which are earmarked for construction and not maintenence could cost the county in the long run. The MTC commision will have to approve the request.

Expect to see more news on this topic around the Bay Area in the next year. Stay tuned.

NCTPA tries new avenue to patch up roads

Funding Opportunities for Roadway Rehabilitation and Maintenence