SUBJECT
Title
ADOPT A RESOLUTION APPROVING A LIST OF PROJECTS PROPOSED TO BE FUNDED BY SENATE BILL 1 FOR FISCAL YEAR 2025-26 AND RELATED CEQA EXEMPTION (DISTRICTS: ALL)
Body
OVERVIEW
The Department of Public Works (DPW) maintains approximately 2,000 centerline miles of roads in unincorporated San Diego County (County). Centerline miles measure total road length, regardless of lane count or width. Between 2012 and 2016, the County's Pavement Condition Index (PCI)-an industry-standard road rating system-declined from 70 to 60, primarily due to reduced maintenance caused by rising construction costs and declining gas tax revenues from more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Over the past eight years, road conditions in the County’s maintenance have significantly improved through Senate Bill 1 (SB1) funding and associated resurfacing projects, bringing the current PCI to 69. DPW anticipates receiving $59.9 million in SB1 revenue for FY (Fiscal Year) 2024-25 and $62.9 million for FY 2025-26 to continue road improvements. To secure this funding, the Board of Supervisors (Board) must annually adopt a resolution approving proposed project locations and submit it to the California Transportation Commission (CTC) by July 1, 2025. In FY 2025-26, DPW estimates that SB1 revenue will fund approximately 91% of the resurfacing program.
For FY 2025-26, DPW has identified 95.54 centerline miles for resurfacing, detailed in Attachment A, Exhibit A1 and summarized in the table below. These locations were selected through a data-driven prioritization process to maximize resources for the public’s benefit. The prioritization process considers data from pavement management software, operational needs identified by physical inspections, and recommendations from the community. The road list was also balanced proportionally to the total centerline miles within each Supervisorial District.
FY 2025-26 Centerline Mileage and SB1 Funding Estimates
|
District |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
Mileage |
5.95 |
38.66 |
4.98 |
8.03 |
37.91 |
|
SB1 Funding |
$3.9M |
$25.6M |
$3.2M |
$5.3M |
$24.9M |
DPW uses best management practices when preserving the County-maintained road network that includes industry standard resurfacing methods to extend the life of the roads and prevent more costly resurfacing treatments in the future. This includes using pavement management software that models and predicts the rate of deterioration of roads. To supplement this data, DPW staff performs routine inspections of roads in need of repair that are identified by the pavement management software or the community through a variety of sources such as the Tell Us Now! mobile app and toll-free hotlines. DPW also solicits feedback from all the planning groups within the unincorporated areas of the county. This information is used by DPW to conduct detailed design work to finalize project scope, coordinate with stakeholders, and adjust work based on funding levels and current market pricing. Once design is complete, DPW will seek Board authorization and coordinate with the Department of Purchasing and Contracting to advertise and award construction contracts. These improvements will enhance road conditions and prevent costly future repairs in the unincorporated region.
This request seeks Board adoption of a resolution approving the FY 2025-26 SB1-funded project list for submission to the CTC. Following approval, DPW will begin design work, cost estimation, and conflict identification for the listed segments. DPW will return to the Board later to request approval for advertising and awarding multiple construction contracts for the refined project list. The resurfacing projects are anticipated to start in late 2026 and finish up by the end of 2027.
RECOMMENDATION(S)
CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER
1. Find in accordance with Section 15301 of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines that the proposed project is categorically exempt from CEQA review because it involves the maintenance of existing public roads involving no or negligible expansion of existing use.
2. Adopt a resolution entitled: RESOLUTION OF THE SAN DIEGO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS APPROVING A LIST OF PROJECTS PROPOSED TO BE FUNDED BY SB1 FOR FISCAL YEAR 2025-26.
EQUITY IMPACT STATEMENT
The Department of Public Works develops a list of roads each year requiring maintenance that is balanced proportionally to the total centerline miles within each Supervisorial district. Approximately 55% of the roads on the Fiscal Year 2025-26 maintenance list are located within underserved communities as defined in the most recent version of CalEnviroScreen (4.0) and Healthy Places Index (3.0) GIS layer. The projects will provide significant benefits to the residents, including enhancements to the Americans with Disabilities Act pedestrian ramps and drainage improvements that will improve access and mobility for non-motorized road users. Road resurfacing facilitates transit and allows cars and buses to travel to underserved communities to bring workers to job centers. County of San Diego construction contracts are also publicly advertised and competitively bid, helping to stimulate the local economy.
SUSTAINABILITY IMPACT STATEMENT
Maintaining San Diego County (County) roads has benefits to sustainability in terms of the economy, environment, social, health, and well-being and prevents more costly maintenance treatments in the future, thereby supporting fiscal sustainability. Asphalt concrete rehabilitation activities use 25% recycled asphalt from old, deteriorated roads, saving thousands of tons of aggregate each year and supporting the County’s sustainability goal to reduce pollution and waste through recycling. Well-maintained roads allow vehicle owners to use fewer resources for vehicle maintenance and operation providing social sustainability benefits. Drainage improvements, such as rehabilitating culverts, curbs, and gutters contribute to the County's sustainability goals to improve water quality and extend the useful life of facilities, by protecting County-maintained roads from costly and resource-intensive repairs. The installation of Americans with Disabilities Act compliant pedestrian ramps proposed in this action supports walkability, mass transit access, and contributes to County sustainability goals to protect the health and well-being of everyone in the region, reduce greenhouse emissions, and transition to a green, carbon-free economy.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with today’s recommendation to adopt a resolution approving a list of projects proposed to be funded by Senate Bill 1 (SB1) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025-26. Funds for this request are included in the FY 2025-26 CAO Recommended Operational Plan in the Department of Public Works, Detailed Work Program. If approved, this request will result in costs and revenue of $62.9 million in FY 2025-26. The funding source is State SB1 gas tax revenue, which will be used to fund design and construction, including contingencies. There will be no change in net General Fund cost and no additional staff years.
BUSINESS IMPACT STATEMENT
Road resurfacing to improve the condition of the roads facilitates the transit of goods and eases the movement of commuters to jobs, schools and shopping centers in underserved communities. County of San Diego construction contracts are also publicly advertised and competitively bid and help stimulate the local economy. All workers employed on public works projects must be paid prevailing wages determined by the California Department of Industrial Relations, according to the type of work and location of the project.
Details
ADVISORY BOARD STATEMENT
Community planning and sponsor groups (Alpine, Bonsall, Borrego Springs, Boulevard, Campo/Lake Morena, Crest, Cuyamaca, Descanso, Fallbrook, Hidden Meadows, Jacumba, Jamul, Julian, Lakeside, Pala/Pauma, Palomar Mountain, Pine Valley, Potrero, Rainbow, Ramona, San Dieguito, Spring Valley, Sweetwater, Twin Oaks Valley, Valle De Oro, Valley Center, and Warner Springs) in the affected areas have provided feedback on road maintenance priorities in their respective areas and have been notified that this matter is being considered today.
BACKGROUND
The Department of Public Works (DPW) maintains roughly 2,000 miles of roads in unincorporated San Diego County (County). Road conditions are measured using the Pavement Condition Index (PCI), which ranges from 0 (failed) to 100 (perfect). Industry standards consider roads in "good" condition when they score between 50-70 PCI, with 70 being optimal for cost-effective maintenance. The County's average road condition declined significantly from 2012 to 2016, with PCI dropping from 70 in 2012 to 60 in 2016. This deterioration resulted from reduced maintenance due to several factors: rising construction costs, declining state funding, and decreased gas tax revenue as more fuel-efficient vehicles became common. Before 2017, limited gas tax revenue meant only $6 million was available annually for road resurfacing, leading to degraded road conditions across the County's network.
On April 28, 2017, Senate Bill 1 (SB1) was signed into law, which provides new gas tax revenues so that counties and cities can address the shortfall of funding needed to maintain local streets and roads. These revenues provide needed funding to improve the overall condition of local streets and roads and protect them from deterioration and costly future repairs. Gas tax revenues collected by the State of California (State) are distributed to counties and cities based on a formula that contains various factors, including population, registered vehicles, and road miles maintained. The SB1 revenues are split 50/50 between the State and counties/cities. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2024-25, DPW estimates it will receive $59.9 million of SB1 revenue and is projecting to receive $62.9 million in FY 2025-26.
In May 2017, the Board of Supervisors (Board) approved using SB1 gas tax revenue to improve the County’s road network to an average PCI of 70. To receive these funds, the Board must annually adopt a resolution with proposed road resurfacing projects and submit it to the California Transportation Commission (CTC). While this project list guides planning, the County retains flexibility to fund other road maintenance and rehabilitation projects under Streets and Highways Code section 2030. Once the resolution and project list are approved, SB1 funds are distributed monthly by the State Controller.
Since FY 2017-18, DPW has implemented an expanded road resurfacing program (Program) with annual budgets between $40-65.5 million, funded by both SB1 and TransNet (a half-cent countywide sales tax for regional transportation projects administered by SANDAG). The program includes road resurfacing, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant pedestrian curb ramps, and drainage culvert rehabilitation. Through these efforts, the average PCI of County-maintained roads has improved from 60 in 2017 to 69 in 2025. While this represents significant progress, continued funding is essential to reach and maintain the target PCI of 70.
FY 2025-26 Road Resurfacing Program
In FY 2025-26, the road resurfacing program is planned to receive $71.3 million in funding, which will be a combination of SB1 ($62.9 million), TransNet ($6.2 million) and Road Fund fund balance ($2.2 million). This represents a funding increase of $1.2 million from FY 2024-25 after excluding funding from the prior year resurfacing projects. The increase in funding is a result of inflation.
DPW has developed a list of road resurfacing locations totaling 95.54 centerline miles for FY 2025-26 (Attachment A, Exhibit A1). Roads are identified by DPW for inclusion into the annual Program based on the condition of the road such as surface cracks and pavement distresses, replacement costs, and road usage factors such as traffic volume and road classification. DPW develops the road list using information identified in DPW’s pavement management software, and public priorities identified by stakeholders and partners including, community planning and sponsor groups (CPGs), businesses, constituents, schools, community groups, and Board requests and recommendations. Although these are the primary drivers for identifying roads for maintenance, there are other considerations as well, such as public safety emergencies, natural disasters, evaluation of underserved communities, and public utility conflicts, among others.
A significant component of DPW’s Program is community input. DPW receives feedback from all CPGs to better understand community needs and considers the community priorities that demonstrate a need for resurfacing. DPW’s operational priorities are identified by the County’s Road maintenance staff and are based on real-time knowledge that includes changes in traffic patterns, resident and community feedback, and road deterioration due to localized conditions, among others. DPW staff considers the highest road maintenance priorities that demonstrate a need for resurfacing. The County’s computerized pavement management system maintains detailed condition information on individual roads in the County-maintained Road network based on specialized video surveys. The last survey was conducted in March 2025, where pavement condition data was collected using downward-facing cameras and laser technology. Surveys include inspection of all the County-maintained roads which result in updated condition assessment data for input into the pavement management system software. This information is evaluated by DPW along with the available budget, scale of economy, and location, to generate a road list that is balanced proportionally to the total centerline miles within each Supervisorial district. DPW staff also considers CalEnviroScreen (4.0) and California Healthy Places Index (3.0) maps when evaluating resurfacing needs, which help us to understand which communities are impacted by elevated pollution sources or other social conditions that can impact health. Approximately 55% of the roads included on the attached maintenance list are in underserved communities.
The FY 2025-26 project list is required to be submitted to the CTC by July 1, 2025. Once the list is received, the CTC will submit the list of projects to the State Controller so that SB1 funds can be apportioned to the County. Changes to the project list are allowed by SB1 and will be included in DPW’s annual SB1 program reporting to the CTC. Once the design process is complete, DPW will return to the Board with the final project list and request authorization to advertise and award the road resurfacing construction projects. The resurfacing projects are anticipated to start in late 2026 and finish up by the end of 2027. Resurfacing will improve the overall condition of the roads and will protect roads from deterioration and costly future repairs. Funds for these requests are included in the FY 2025-26 Chief Administrative Officer’s Recommended Operational Plan.
This is a request to adopt a resolution approving a list of projects proposed to be funded by SB1 for FY 2025-26. Upon Board approval, the resolution and road list will be submitted to the CTC for delivery to the State Controller. Attachment A, Exhibit A1 contains the list of road resurfacing projects proposed for use of SB1 funding. DPW will begin design, cost estimation and conflict identification for the listed roadway segments to further refine the list of roads. The refined list will be presented to the Board at a later date with a request to approve the advertisement and award of multiple construction contracts to perform the resurfacing work. Upon approval DPW will coordinate the advertisement and award of multiple construction contracts with the Department of Purchasing and Contracting.
ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT
Section 15301(c) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines exempts from CEQA review the “operation, repair, maintenance, permitting, leasing, licensing, or minor alteration of existing public or private structures, facilities, mechanical equipment, or topographical features, involving negligible or no expansion of existing or former use.” This exemption includes the maintenance of existing highways, streets, sidewalks, gutters, bicycle, and pedestrian trails. The key consideration in determining whether this exemption applies is whether the project involves “negligible or no expansion of existing or former use.” This action consists of approving a list of projects proposed to be funded by Senate Bill 1 (SB1) for Fiscal Year 2025-26. These projects are asphalt concrete and slurry seal road resurfacing projects and associated culvert and pedestrian ramp work within existing County-maintained roadways. The project includes activities that are necessary to ensure existing right-of-way facilities continue to function as designed. Therefore, the project is categorically exempt in accordance with Section 15301 of the CEQA Guidelines because it involves the maintenance of existing public roads involving no or negligible expansion of existing use.
LINKAGE TO THE COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO STRATEGIC PLAN
Today’s recommendations support the Sustainability, Community, and Equity Strategic Initiatives in the County of San Diego’s 2025-2030 Strategic Plan by utilizing sustainable construction practices, focusing on underserved communities, and providing adequate maintenance to ensure safe communities that improve the quality of life for all residents. Road maintenance supports environmental and economic sustainability by utilizing 25% recycled asphalt from old, deteriorated roads and preventing more costly future repairs. The installation of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant pedestrian ramps supports community walkability and mass transit access. Approximately 55% of the roads on the resurfacing maintenance lists are within underserved communities and road maintenance will improve and protect the condition of roads, facilitate transit, and allow cars and buses to travel to underserved communities to bring workers to job centers.
Respectfully submitted,
DAHVIA LYNCH
Deputy Chief Administrative Officer
ATTACHMENT(S)
A. Resolution of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors Approving a List of Projects Proposed to be Funded by SB1 for Fiscal Year 2025-26
Exhibit A1. SB1 Project List For Fiscal Year 2025-26 Road Maintenance Program