Transportation director warns pavement condition trending down, cites grants and signal work

Director Long (Department of Transportation & Engineering) told the Budget & Finance Committee that the city’s transportation network requires significant maintenance resources and that the pavement-condition index has trended downward despite targeted projects and grant funding.

Director Long said DOT is responsible for roughly $5 billion in transportation infrastructure and that the department’s full-time staff complement has been steady at about 203–206 employees. The department reported average annual general capital support rising modestly and an average of about $20 million in restricted funds across aviation, vehicle-license and other dedicated accounts.

DOT said it triaged more than 833 emergency electrical outages in the first two quarters and completed 97% within a 24-hour target (department goal 95%). The director flagged pedestrian safety as a persistent challenge: 189 pedestrian-involved crashes were reported during the first two fiscal quarters, and the department is not meeting its stated 15% reduction target for pedestrian crashes in that period.

On signals and intersections, DOT said the city manages about 6,500 intersections, more than 800 traffic signals and 98 school flashers. During the first half of the fiscal year the department triaged 69 signal requests, completed five signal rebuilds and has an active contract to complete eight additional signal rebuilds to reach a 10-signal annual target.

Director Long described three principal service-delivery challenges: limited technical staffing, standard procurement models that lengthen project timelines, and a constrained regional contractor pool that sometimes results in rebids and higher prices. She and committee members discussed whether newly available rail-sale funds could be directed to resurfacing; Director Long noted higher asphalt costs and a long-term trend of declining roadway condition driven by weather cycles, rising costs and constrained staffing.

The department reported successful grant-seeking activity: 43 grant applications in the prior fiscal year yielded 31 awards (full or partial), about a 72% success rate, which the director called an important lever for the city’s capital program.

Council members asked for additional detail on sidewalk-repair pilot work, community-request tracking and a staffing explanation for a rise in personnel compensation seen in the department’s spreadsheet; staff said some of that change reflected shifts in reimbursements and capital allocations and offered to provide a detailed reconciliation.