SF Bay Area freeways and highways are some of the crummiest urban roads in the
country, a transportation research group said Thursday.

Published Friday, May 27, 2005, in the San Francisco Chronicle

Local highways considered some of the nation's bumpiest
California has 5 of 10 worst urban roads, study says

By Michael Cabanatuan



[research group <http://www.tripnet.org>

The research report is available via
<http://www.tripnet.org/RoughRoadsReport052605.pdf>
with appendices
<http://www.tripnet.org/RoughRoadsAppxA052605.pdf>
<http://www.tripnet.org/RoughRoadsAppxB052605.pdf>
<http://www.tripnet.org/RoughRoadsAppxC052605.pdf>
<http://www.tripnet.org/RoughRoadsAppxD052605.pdf>
]

The roads in San Jose are second only to those in Kansas City, Mo.,
when it comes to rib-rattling potholes and worn-out pavement,
according to a study by the Road Information Project. Bump north a
few miles to the San Francisco- Oakland area and you'll find the
nation's fifth-worst set of freeways, the group said.

That news came as little surprise to Jose Luis Vargas. Not only does
Vargas commute daily from Tracy to San Francisco, but he owns a
suspension and alignment repair business near Highway 101. And he
recently slammed into a huge pothole, cracking a wheel and blowing out
a tire.

Repairing the damage cost Vargas $1,200 -- "and I own the business,"
he said. A customer would have paid closer to $1,700.

"I agree," Vargas said of the rankings. "The Bay Area right now is
really bad."

So are the rest of the state's large metropolitan areas, according to
the report. The Golden State, long defined by its affinity for
freeways, captured five of the spots on the list of the 10 worst metro
areas in the study by the Road Information Project, which is based in
Washington, D.C.

Besides the Bay Area cities, California was represented by Los
Angeles, ranked fourth from the bottom; San Diego, sixth-bumpiest; and
Sacramento, roughing it at No. 9.

The report measures the smoothness of interstate highways, freeways
and other major roads in metropolitan areas of at least 500,000. It
uses data on pavement conditions collected annually by state
departments of transportation and sent to the Federal Highway
Administration.

Nationally, the report concluded, about 1 in every 4 miles of the
nation's major metropolitan roads is in bad shape, and the average
urban resident pays about $400 a year to repair damage from rough
roads.

Metro areas were rated based on the percentage of roads and highways
with pavement quality listed as unacceptable. In San Jose, that
number was 67 percent. In San Francisco-Oakland, 60 percent of the
roads were substandard.

Martha Camposeco, a San Francisco welfare eligibility worker who
commutes daily on Highway 101, said she wasn't surprised by the
survey, noting that major roads are often ripped up and sloppily
patched and that cracks and potholes go a long time before they're
repaired.

"There was one spot near Hospital Curve (on Highway 101) that I would
always hit," she said. "It's finally been fixed. But it took four
years."

Dennis Oliver, spokesman for the California Alliance for Jobs, an
Emeryville organization that represents highway construction companies
and unions, said the report was embarrassing and showed the need for
the state to invest more in highway maintenance and transportation in
general.

"Restoring Prop. 42 for one year is great," he said. "But it's not
going to solve the problem. It's just a start. It's going to take
some time to fix."


E-mail Michael Cabanatuan at mcabanatuan@...