Rohnert Park officials outline pavement plan as maintenance funding lags

Rohnert Park Public Works Director Vanessa Garrett told the City Council the city's Pavement Condition Index (PCI) is currently about 66, meaning roughly three-quarters of the city's roads are in good condition and about 25% are in poor or worse condition. "We actually have a very good PCI at 66 right now," Garrett said during the informational presentation.

Garrett and Senior Public Works Analyst Ed Takata explained the city maintains 98 centerline miles (about 200 lane miles counting both directions) and uses a consultant every two years to evaluate every segment and assign PCI scores from 0 (worst) to 100 (new). They showed lifecycle curves demonstrating that timely preventative treatments such as crack sealing, slurry seals and microsurfacing preserve PCI at modest cost, while delayed work leads to costly rehabilitation or full-depth reconstruction.

The presentation laid out four funding scenarios from the 2024 pavement management plan. Under the city's historical restricted-transportation investment (roughly $2.3 million annually from gas-tax allocations and local sales-tax transportation measures), the PCI would decline over a five-year window and deferred maintenance could rise from an estimated $22.6 million to about $35.5 million. A target-based scenario to maintain a PCI of 66 would require roughly $4 million per year on average; pushing the PCI to about 68 would approach $5 million per year while keeping deferred maintenance nearer $24.5 million after five years.

Garrett noted the plan and modeling are tools to weigh trade-offs. "If we continue the same level of investment that the city has been able to invest in restricted funds, the PCI falls," she said, summarizing the baseline scenario. Staff also described using a computerized StreetSaver system to coordinate paving with planned water and sewer projects to avoid rework and to prioritize treatments across the city.

Council members questioned where local restricted funds originate and how much is returned from county collections. Garrett said allocations are distributed by the county using a formula based on population and road miles and that Sonoma County Transportation Authority data could show local inflows and allocations. Council members pressed on long-term revenue risks as electric vehicles and remote work reduce gas-tax receipts; City Manager Marcel Pedra said the budget process is monitoring those trends and will update estimates for the next fiscal cycle.

The presentation closed with staff advising that creative use of multimodal or safety grants and occasional earmarks can help bridge gaps—examples included a federally aided roundabout and smaller SATA technical grants—but that such grants are competitive and rarely cover pure paving. Staff emphasized the PMP will be updated again this year via an MTC technical assistance grant and that council will see revised cost and project lists in April.

The item was informational; no formal council action on the pavement program was taken at the meeting.