Feds pave road to street repairs
By: Brent Begin
Examiner Staff Writer
March 26, 2009
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| Smoothed over: The street-repair projects chosen to receive stimulus dollars are for Jones, Turk, Bush and Divisadero streets, and Seventh Avenue and Geary Boulevard. (Examiner File Photo) |
SAN FRANCISCO — Federal stimulus funds will fill a financial pothole for street-repair work in The City.
California’s budget woes led to the state freezing about $11 million in funds guaranteed by voters. That money would have gone to road repairs.
Luckily for San Francisco drivers, The City will receive about $11 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that has been allocated to smooth out stretches of crumbling corridors.
The six projects chosen for the stimulus dollars — Jones, Turk, Bush and Divisadero streets, and Seventh Avenue and Geary Boulevard — were chosen not only for their state of disrepair, but also for the readiness of each.
“It’s a complicated formula,” said Department of Public Works Director Ed Reiskin. “We try to catch streets before they fall into a condition that makes it more expensive to repair.”
The condition and the funding for repairs of streets has been a long-running issue.
In 1988, the condition of San Francisco streets earned them an overall score of 78 out of 100, according to a Metropolitan Transportation Commission report. But by 2005, the score dropped to 64. The deterioration was mostly blamed on a lack of steady funding that would allow for continuous upgrades and fixes.
In 2008, Mayor Gavin Newsom announced record funding for street repairs. About $38 million was budgeted for this fiscal year and the next.
“We’ve got two years of paving planned,” Reiskin said. “It does presume that we get state revenues.”
The street work, which will be performed by private contractors, is expected to begin in September and is required to be completed in a year. The Department of Public Works oversees all city repaving projects, but with those longer than five blocks, the actual work is contracted out.
The money for the repairs is part of $771 million in federal stimulus funds distributed to local governments through the California Department of Transportation. The money is considered “formulaic,” in that it’s distributed to localities throughout the state without competitive bidding.
The federal money is the first stimulus funding to be approved by the Board of Supervisors. The City is anticipating other noncompetitive grants in the future, such as a $21.1 million chunk for San Francisco International Airport.
Even after The City receives federal stimulus funds, officials remain hopeful that $11 million will be released by the state. Those funds would be used for more projects.
Federal stimulus funds go toward street repairs
- • Jones Street from Market to California streets
- • Turk Street from Market Street to Van Ness Avenue
- • Divisadero Street between Waller Street and Geary Boulevard
- • Seventh Avenue between Hugo and Judah, Kirkham and Laguna Honda
- • Geary Boulevard intersections at 19th through 23rd avenues
- • Bush Street from Van Ness to Presidio avenues (tentative)
Source: Department of Public Works
