A stretch of Los Altos Road in Pacific Beach was dubbed the 1,000th mile of paved road from the mayor, but some say the city still isn’t putting the pedal to the metal in repairs.
In 2015, Mayor Kevin Faulconer pledged to fix 1,000 miles of road in five years. He reached his goal nearly two years early.
“It’s well overdue,” said Pacific Beach resident Eric Upham.
Upham said the 1,000th mile wasn’t “representative” of which roads the city should be repairing. “I think they could’ve probably chosen another area than this,” according to Upham. “It wasn’t that bad [before].”
SDStreets · alpha
As of 2015, the City of San Diego street network consists of approximately 3000 miles of streets as measured along their center-lines, the majority of which are asphalt streets. The City uses center-line miles to describe the distance of our street network.
Upham pointed to a street less than half a mile away from the honorary site that might have been a better choice.
Jewell Street is a “steep road with a lot of pot holes that’s got a lot of traffic on it,” Upham told NBC 7.
“There’s some areas where it looks like they just glossed it over. They didn’t actually do the repairs,” said Pacific Beach resident Eric Upham.
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Upham said the city slurry sealed much of area which can be damaged by tree roots and traffic. “Those areas are going to need to be patched within another year or so,” Upham said.
Slurry sealing is a type of preservation that adds about a quarter-inch coating to the street that can extend the road’s life if it’s already in good condition, according to the city’s website. Overlaying is another method that adds about two inches of asphalt.
About 700 miles were slurry sealed, while the rest were given overlays, according to the city’s website.
During repairs in Ocean Beach back in May, some were outraged by paving crews going around parked cars.
The city averaged 26 miles of roads repaired per month. A decade ago, the City of San Diego only repaired 25 miles of streets during the entire year, according to Faulconer.
Faulconer tripled funding for road repairs, created changes that held contractors accountable for the quality of their work, and sent crews into each district to fill potholes, according to the city.
“I hope that they continue on with this and that they go forward and they really look at the roads that are really in need of it,” Upham told NBC 7.
The mayor’s office announced the city hit 800 miles of repaired roads back in April.
A study from August found San Diego's deteriorating and congested roads are costing drivers nearly $2,000 a year.
The city held a conference at the 1,000th mile of road Monday at 10 a.m.
