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Council adopts pavement-management update after residents describe flood-prone dirt roads
Summary
Wildomar adopted a 2026 pavement-management program update that maps the city’s pavement condition and offers funding scenarios; staff highlighted a 67 PCI citywide average and a 60‑mile dirt‑road inventory with planning-level costs up to $75 million to pave everything. Residents urged immediate drainage fixes on Union Road.
Wildomar’s City Council on Tuesday adopted a biennial pavement-management program (PMP) update that sets priorities for road maintenance and lays out planning-level costs for dirt-road upgrades.
The city’s consultant, Vivek Jha of NCE, told the council the city’s weighted average pavement condition index (PCI) is about 67 — a modest improvement since 2021 — and that staff added roughly 2 million square feet of pavement to the inventory during the update. The analysis showed roughly 127 centerline miles (about 265 lane miles) of roadway and that about half the network rates as “very good.” Jha said preventative maintenance on fair-to-good streets produces the largest return on investment, while reconstruction of very poor segments is costly.
“Think of it as a health check,” Jha said, describing how the PMP uses LiDAR and camera data to score pavement, model funding scenarios and estimate lifecycle costs. Under current annual funding (about $1.6 million from RMRA and related sources), the model projects a slight PCI decline; adding resources in the model stabilizes or improves the index.
The consultants also delivered a dirt-road memorandum: the city has about 60 miles of unpaved roads (roughly 7 million square feet), representing about 30% of its road network. Planning-level estimates range from gravel or chip-seal options up to roughly $75 million to fully pave all dirt roads; staff emphasized the memorandum excludes potential right-of-way acquisition and detailed drainage or storm‑water design, which could substantially raise costs.
During public comment, Robin Jones and neighbors described chronic flooding on a dirt section of Union Street behind Marion O’Brien Park, saying trapped runoff has caused mold, standing water and property damage. “We have nowhere for the water to go,” Jones said, asking the city to address drainage and signage where paved streets transition to dirt.
The city engineer said the stretch is not maintained by the city and that many subdivisions were developed before the city incorporated; staff committed to investigating the source of public runoff, reviewing whether signage is appropriate at the transition from paved to unpaved, and following up with residents.
Council discussion centered on program trade-offs: whether to prioritize preserving fair-to-good streets with slurry seals and overlays or to direct funds toward expensive reconstructions. Staff noted some streets could be advanced with developer participation or by using community facility district reserves when available.
The council voted 5–0 to adopt Resolution No. 2026‑10 updating the pavement-management program and to receive the dirt-road memorandum. Staff said subsequent deliverables include GIS condition maps and project lists the public works team will use when seeking funding and scheduling work.
