The City of Oakland Department of Transportation (OakDOT) announced today updated draft plans for paving Oakland streets over the next five years, a plan that will go to the City Council for review in December. The announcement comes as OakDOT nears the completion of a record-setting, national-first three-year paving plan that delivered 100 miles of newly-paved streets and major investments into underserved communities.
“Oakland proves time and time again that when we all play our part and we invest in our communities, we make incredible progress together,” Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said. “For decades our streets went underfunded, and the results have been intolerable for every neighborhood in our town. Thanks to the generosity of voters who passed Measure KK, and to the hard work of our City of Oakland team, we’re turning that around and setting our sights even higher.”
“When the City Council adopted the three-year paving plan in May 2019, we invested $100 million in Oakland streets -- and most of that in those local streets that are the first and last few blocks of every resident’s commute,” Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas said. “That plan is showing results, but we have much more to do, and with our next steps grounded in equity and community input, we'll continue to make our streets safer.”
“Streets that aren’t properly maintained over long periods will fall into worse and worse condition at exponential rates, and a few years ago, Oakland was facing hundreds of miles hitting the hardest part of that curve,” OakDOT Director Ryan Russo said. “Thanks to the investments of Measure KK, the leadership of our Mayor and City Council, and great work by our teams and our partners, we’ve delivered two record paving years in a row and the tide is turning. This is just a down payment on repairing decades of neglect, but we’re confident that with sustained leadership and investment we’ll keep delivering the changes Oaklanders have demanded of us.”
Data the City gathered by studying every Oakland street in summer 2021 indicate there is still more work to do, but also that efforts to quickly improve Oakland’s streets the past few years are making a difference. Here are some of the key highlights:
- 28% of local streets are now in good or excellent condition, up from just 15% in 2016 when Measure KK was passed.
- The share of local streets in poor condition declined for the first time in 10 years, from 60% to 53%.
- Now nearly 75% of major streets are in good or excellent condition, up from 62% in 2018.
- Overall, the average PCI for arterials is now 74, up from 67 in 2012.
- For City streets overall, the average PCI is now at 58.
The draft 5-year plan proposes pavement rehabilitation and preventative maintenance treatments on more than 350 miles of Oakland streets, contingent on potential funding sources. The draft plan proposes to use the same policy framework: the majority of funding is dedicated to local streets while still keeping major streets in good condition, and local streets program funding is primarily prioritized by planning area, weighing equity factors and street condition equally.
Within each planning area, local streets are prioritized for pavement rehabilitation based on pavement condition, proximity to parks, and adjacent segments in poor condition. Two new categories of local streets are also proposed in the draft plan: local streets preventative maintenance and local streets neighborhood bike routes. These smaller programs ensure recently-paved local streets receive cost-effective treatments to maintain their good condition and that the City improves and maintains roadways that are either current or proposed neighborhood bike routes. In addition, the local streets program sets aside funding for City Council paving priorities and for utility cost-sharing opportunities as part of excavation projects. Streets prioritized within these two programs will be determined following the adoption of the plan.
Over the last few months, OakDOT has shared the draft plan with community members at neighborhood council meetings across the City, gathering community feedback and providing a draft map of the streets that would be paved under the plan. The full map and planning documents are available online at https://www.oaklandca.gov/projects/20225yp, along with a link to an interactive map.
As the City looks forward, it might also be helpful to take a quick look back at challenges and progress over the last few years.
The 3-year paving plan that Oakland's City Council adopted in 2019 took many leaps forward for Oakland:
- Increased overall paving investment with Measure KK funding -- $100M in 3 years, after decades of dwindling paving funding.
- Focused on local streets, those first and last few blocks in every residents' commute
- Built equity into our systemic spending by weighing equally the proportion of poor-condition streets in a neighborhood AND the proportion of underserved communities.
Since the plan’s adoption, OakDOT has provided several progress reports – including a record number of miles paved in 2020, and a new record set in 2021.
How has that translated to street quality? Here’s how OakDOT measures and track that: Every 2-4 years, the City performs a citywide pavement condition survey. This data was most recently collected in summer 2021. OakDOT is used this data to prepare the draft five-year plan to improve and maintain pavement condition citywide. Here’s a map of that most recent data: https://oakgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/5d844eacab5f40598fcd0e45376d785f
Community members are invited to learn more and stay involved by reviewing the plan details at https://www.oaklandca.gov/projects/20225yp. Anyone interested may also sign up for the project mailing list at https://oaklandca19202.activehosted.com/f/112.
Residents are also encouraged to request infrastructure maintenance services and report problems through any of the following means:
- Phone: Call 311 from any phone within Oakland. (If calling from outside Oakland, use the number 510-615-5566.)
- E-mail: OAK311@oaklandca.gov
- Web: 311.oaklandca.gov
- Mobile App: OAK 311, available free for Apple and Android smart devices (powered by SeeClickFix)