Victorville Public Information Officer Sue Jones explored the Victorville road improvement budget with civil engineer Fredy Bonilla on the new “What’s the Tea VV” city podcast.
The two explored the burning question for most Victorville residents: why is it such a challenge to fix High Desert streets?
The main challenges, according to Bonilla, are Victorville’s size and funding. The city is 74 square miles in mass with almost 500,000 square feet of pavement.
“We just don’t have enough funds to be able to repave every road,” Bonilla said.
Budget in action: Road repairs
Road construction projects don’t have a local source of revenue. They’re dependent on the state gas tax and the county’s half-a-cent sales tax.
The limited funding for pavement rehab projects including maintenance of existing roads and infrastructure is only about $10 million this fiscal year, according to Bonilla. That excludes the construction of new roads, which are typically built by developers.
Roughly $3.5 million is allocated to personnel, maintenance, and operations of existing roadway – filling potholes and sealing cracks.
City officials said 70% of the budget goes toward projects – repaving roads and city-wide rehabilitation.
The city hires a consultant who does a Pavement Condition Index survey of all Victorville roadways. This is done in three phases over the course of three years and is utilized as a planning tool to rate the roads, city officials said.
The survey identifies a cost-to-benefit ratio. Roads worth fixing bring maximum benefit to the city, taking annual traffic into account. Larger roads like Bear Valley Road and Mojave Drive have higher cost-to-benefit ratios and are selected for road repair over smaller neighborhood roads.
Why is road construction so expensive?
The cost of roadway construction has increased almost 30% in the last couple of years, according to Bonilla.
“Our budget grows each year but not enough to keep up with the rising cost of construction.”
Victorville road projects can’t take money from other sources, either. Enterprise funds are tied to certain city improvements, and those improvements only.
The solution, Bonilla offers, is to allocate local revenue that can be used specifically for roadway projects.
What’s next?
Accessibility and major road repairs are at the top of the road construction list under the current budget.
The city of Victorville just completed a grant application to the state to fully develop Mojave Drive along the north side to “full standards.” This includes an additional lane of travel, curbs, gutters, and sidewalk street lighting all along developed parcels.
“Since the properties are already developed, it falls on the city to construct those things,” Bonilla said.
Current projects via county grants include the second phase of the Old Town Sidewalk Project adding nine new sidewalk segments, and a project that’s budgeted for Village Drive between Puesta del Sol and Tawney Ridge.
Because the city doesn’t have specific funding set aside for sidewalk projects, they have to be aggressive with grant applications.
In the meantime, civic engagement is very important.
Bonilla encourages Victorville residents to let their communities know if a road needs significant repair. The Public Works Department is equipped to do several things “in-house” like filling a pothole and sealing cracks.
McKenna Mobley is a Daily Press reporter and can be reached at mmobley@gannett.com.