The update of the City of Salinas’ Pavement Management System (PMS) has been completed. The PMS was developed by Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), and its sub-consultant, Adhara Systems, Inc. Adhara’s Reports stated that as of November 4, 2017, the City’s overall Pavement Condition Index (PCI) is 54. The PCI is a numerical index between 0 and 100 which is used to indicate the general condition of a pavement, with 100 representing the best possible condition and 0 representing the worst possible condition. The PCI rating of 54 places the City’s street network condition in the lower end of the “Good” category.
Adhara’s Budget Report states that the City’s current roadway maintenance backlog is $138 million. If no maintenance is applied over the next five years, roads already distressed will continue to deteriorate and the network PCI will drop to the “Poor” score of 43 and a maintenance backlog of $280 million. Given the backlog of maintenance, safety, congestion relief, and complete streets projects, the City is committing to spending $9 million per year on pavement maintenance, which is estimated to improve its PCI to 56.
The City has also developed a list of current street improvement projects being designed and prioritized for the use of the bond proceeds to address the backlog of deferred street maintenance. Some of this funding will leverage Senate Bill 1 (SB1) funding approved last year. The proposed projects include:
- E. Boronda Road Traffic Congestion Relief
- Bardin Road Safe Routes to School
- E. Laurel Drive Sidewalk and Lights
- ADA sidewalks, ramps, and traffic signal upgrades throughout the city
- Williams Road Improvements and Utilities Undergrounding
- Main Street street-scape and traffic signal upgrades
- New traffic signals
- Traffic calming
All of these improvements are eligible costs payable from Measure X revenues, including engineering, inspections, contract administration and other incidental costs. The particular streets and roadways to be improved are part of the City's Capital Improvement Program (CIP) and budget approved by City Council.
This year the City has $50 million budgeted in its CIP for more than 40 transportation improvement projects, and over the next three years, $85 million is earmarked. The proposed funding for these projects comes from 8 different sources, including approximately $3.4 million from Measure X and $2.9 million from SB1, annually.
To provide expedited funding for street improvement projects, the City of Salinas issued a Transportation Revenue Certificate of Participation (COP) through the California Statewide Communities Development Authority Transportation and Regional Infrastructure Project (TRIP) pooled securitization program to finance certain street improvement projects. The Transportation Revenue COP authorizes an amount not to exceed $40.7 million. Measure X proceeds will be used to pay the annual payments of approximately $2.3 million over 28 years.