Salinas needs $1.1B to repair all of its disintegrating streets.

Celia Jiménez here, thinking about the roads in Salinas and the upcoming projects that will improve them. 

Potholes and sidewalks are recurrent topics residents talk about at various meetings throughout the city. 

On Feb. 20, the Salinas City Council approved a contract with Graniterock for $5.4 million to repair major streets in the city, including Old Stage Road, Towt Street, the Abbott Street intersection, Tampico Avenue, N. First Street and Independence Boulevard.

The project will be funded with carry-over Measure G and American Rescue Plan Act funds. 

Of the total funds, $3.3 million will be used to reconstruct Independence Boulevard, with work expected to start in the summer. 

“The need to repair Independence Boulevard has been very evident for many years, and is a concern I have heard consistently from my constituents,” Councilmember Anthony Rocha wrote on social media.

The original project included other streets such as South Hebbron Avenue, Beach Street and West Curtis Avenue. But they were eliminated because the cost of the repairs would exceed the approved budget due to their extensive damage.

Normal use, winter storms and low funding have affected the quality of the roads in the city. In 2023, the city’s Pavement Condition Index (PCI), a system that evaluates street quality, had a failing grade of 53 points out of 100. City officials estimate $1.1 billion is needed to repair them, a sum that is over four times larger than the $248.8 million budget the council approved for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. That year, Public Works received only $7.8 million for street repairs. 

“We don't have enough money to fix our roads,” Councilmember Andrew Sandoval said.

On Feb. 20, Public Works requested a different way to distribute funds for street repair, regardless of the dollar amount, the following way in the future: 60 percent for major streets, 30 percent for residential roads and 10 percent for immediate maintenance. According to the report, about 43 percent of city streets fall in the first category.

The staff aims to equalize or achieve a similar PCI index in each district, which means some districts may get more funding than others at the beginning (last year, each district received $1.3 million). District 5 has the lowest PCI index with 39.9. District 1 and District 6 are the only ones above the city’s average with 67.3 and 58.5 percent, respectively. 

Once the districts have a similar PCI, the funds will be distributed equally across the board and based on the amount of roads each district has.

Since each district has different street mileage, city staff suggested distributing residential funds the following way: 11 percent for District 1, 12 percent for District 2, 28 percent for District 3, 14 percent for District 4, 13 percent for District 5 and 22 percent for District 6.

Rocha and Councilmember Orlando Osornio didn’t favor this distribution and suggested alternatives. Rocha said he understood the discrepancies but suggested lowering funds for Districts 2 and 6, which would allow 10 percent to be redistributed among the other districts. 

“Having that 10 percent difference go to the other districts would be more equitable because even though they're not as large geographically and square foot-wise as District 3 and District 6, they do have a long history of neglect,” he said.

In the end, Osornio motioned to return the item to the finance committee to discuss those percentages. The council voted 4-1 to send it back with Mayor Kimbley Craig dissenting. Councilmember Steve McShane and Carla Viviana González were absent. 

“It's been a longstanding discussion, and I'm surprised we need more time on it,” Craig said. 

Another project on the horizon is the Williams Road Safe Street Corridor Project. Salinas was awarded $16 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation to increase safety and install high visibility crosswalks, new traffic signals and more.

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