Lake County Public Works director lays out five-year pavement rehabilitation plan
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lake County Public Works director has presented a plan to the Board of Supervisors that proposes to complete more than $84 million in roadwork over the coming five years.
Director Scott De Leon presented the 5-Year Pavement Rehabilitation Plan to the supervisors at their April 26 meeting.
He said he’s excited about the plan, which gives the county a path and a visual for taking on millions of dollars in needed road work and improvements.
De Leon, who acknowledged that he makes a lot of reports and presentations, told the supervisor, “This is perhaps the most important presentation I’ve made to this board or any boards in my career as the Public Works director.”
He said the plan has been a long time coming, and he hopes it’s a step toward changing the conditions of Lake County’s roads.
However, he acknowledged, “This is going to be a pretty expensive proposition.”
Public Works maintains over 600 miles of road, a couple hundred bridges and thousands of culverts, De Leon said.
“Historically, we’ve been reactionary,” he explained, with the department focusing on patching potholes and responding to safety concerns.
When funding becomes available, they do pavement preservation or capital improvement projects, many of which are grant driven. De Leon said the discretionary funding that they have through the gas tax is limited.
By the time they pay for equipment, labor and materials, they don’t have a lot of money to do large scale pavement projects. However, De Leon said they are seeing an increase in funding with SB 1.
De Leon said he felt it was time to start looking ahead, be less reactionary and begin planning for the future. He went to the board in October and asked them to approve a contract with NCE, the preeminent pavement engineering company, which has a lot of history in Lake County.
NCE subsequently put together the five-year pavement rehabilitation plan for the county, De Leon said.
Initially, De Leon said Public Works wanted to pursue a pavement condition index target of 70 in five years. He said they knew it was going to be extremely ambitious.
NCE looked at that proposal and had not gotten too far into their study when they called Public Works and said they didn’t think it was financially attainable. That’s because the estimated cost was put at $174 million.
“That’s just not really an option,” said De Leon.
So they lowered the target to a pavement condition index of 50 in five years. De Leon said that would be better than the county’s current pavement condition index, which is hovering in the mid 30s.
Next, De Leon wants to hire a consultant to develop plans and specifications based on the list of roads the plan contains in order to begin preliminary environmental work. That, in turn, will ensure Public Works is prepared to pursue funding opportunities when they arise.
The plan gives the annual breakdown as follows:
• 2023: $15 million, focus on the Northshore.
• 2024: $15.4 million, areas would include Clearlake Oaks, Lower Lake and some roadways along Highway 175 in Cobb.
• 2025: $17.8 million, Buckingham, Soda Bay, Kelseyville Riviera, Riviera West, Cobb.
• 2026: $18.2 million, areas in and around Cobb, Kelseyville proper and Middletown.
• 2027: $18.1 million, north Lakeport and Kelseyville.
Public Works is very close to being able to handle the first year of the plan with some reserves they have developed over the last couple of years, De Leon said. Several projects that have been placed in year two, including some projects in the Clearlake Oaks area, will actually be handled by crews this summer.
When NCE established the road work list, they wanted to group neighborhoods and treatment types together, with the plan being community focused. De Leon said they roughly allocated 50% of available funding for local streets and roads, then to arterials.
All roads with a pavement condition index of less than 25, which means that the road has basically failed, were included in the plan. “Historically, we have not done that,” De Leon said, explaining that if roads failed, they would instead work on other roads.
The first year of the plan, 2023, focuses predominantly on the Northshore, with work set to take place in the communities of Nice, Lucerne and Upper Lake, De Leon said.
De Leon said Public Works needs to contact utility companies to make them aware that there is a plan to rebuild the roads in their area and that if they have projects, they need to get them done now. That’s because once the roads are reconstructed and repaved, no encroachment or retrenching permits will be issued for five years.
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier suggested having De Leon return between years three and four years for review, and to have another five-year plan ready to go for continuity. De Leon agreed.
De Leon said the road department has been setting aside funds and reserves in expectation of needing a lot of money for a big project. For 2023, they will be getting close to the necessary $15 million for that year’s road work. However, in the years after that, getting the money will be more of a challenge.
The road department will have an estimated $5 million in discretionary funding to put toward projects annually. However, De Leon said there’s a shortfall, as the department’s annual projects total $15 million to $17 million.
He said they need to find more money and go after every grant that’s available. So he’s spoken to administrative and auditor-controller staff, who have told him about capital improvement funding programs.
De Leon also raised the proposal for a sales tax. A half-cent sales tax could bring in an additional $2 million a year for road projects. He pointed to the city of Clearlake’s success with its Measure V road sales tax.
Sabatier asked about De Leon’s next steps. De Leon said he wants to hire a consultant to begin design work. And while he hadn’t initially planned to seek the board’s formal acceptance, he agreed to do so.
County Counsel Anita Grant suggested that he might seek formal approval by coming back with a resolution. Sabatier said he liked formalizing the plan with a resolution, as it holds the county accountable.
Grant added that the resolution can speak to the need for flexibility in how the plan is carried out.
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