Supervisors Press Agencies on Road Repairs and Coordination as City Invests in Resurfacing

Chair Jane Kim opened a July 19 Government Audit & Oversight Committee hearing on San Francisco’s road conditions, saying the city must balance a major resurfacing investment with minimizing disruption to residents and businesses. The committee invited Public Works, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and the Public Utilities Commission to explain coordination, repair techniques and outreach.

The hearing followed a November 2016 TRIP (a national transportation research group) report that, in the city’s peer group, rated San Francisco among the poorest for major‑road condition. “Given this huge investment in our streets, we need to get things right,” Supervisor Aaron Peskin said, noting a two‑year, nearly $90 million commitment in the state budget to pay for pothole repair, striping and safety measures and a city goal to raise the pavement condition index (PCI) to 70 by 2025.

John Thomas, City Engineer for Public Works, told the committee the department now uses an Envista planning system to coordinate capital projects across agencies and utilities. Thomas said since February 2008 the city has paved roughly 5,000 blocks (about 40 percent of blocks citywide), with approximately 4,300 of those since…