Bumpy Roads Ahead: America’s Roughest Rides and Strategies to Make our Roads Smoother (July 2015) - The National Transportation Research Group’s July 2015 report compared roads among cities with urban populations between 250,000 and 500,000.  It found that Santa Rosa Has Nation’s Third Worst Roads for a Medium-Sized City. 

Using Federal Highway Administration data from 2013 the group concluded that Santa Rosa has the third highest share of roads in the nation that are rated poor (chart 5, page 15). Only 10 percent of Santa Rosa’s roads and highways are considered to be good; 12 percent are fair, 29% are mediocre and 49% are poor. For purposes of this study an urban area includes the city and its neighboring suburban areas, meaning that the county roads adjacent to Santa Rosa are included. Here also is the report's, Appendix B 

You can also click here to read the Press Democrat's coverage of this report.

The board of supervisors adopted the latest version of the long-term road plan on October 28, 2014. It seeks to improve about 700 miles of the County road network beyond the 150 miles already improved over past three fiscal years, resulting in over 50 percent of the road network achieving “good” pavement condition index ratings or better. To achieve this goal, the board will place on the ballot in June 2015 a measure that seeks approval of a ¼ cent sales tax increase.

The California Statewide Local Streets and Roads Needs Assessment (October 2014) In now availble. This report details the failing of California’s streets and roads. It provides a critical analysis and information on local transportation networks' condition. Sonoma County ranks 47th of the 58 counties in California based on the Pavement Condition Index (PCI), which is an improvement from two years ago when we were 51st. See pages 16-17. If voters approve a sales tax increase for roads in June 2015 Sonoma County will greatly improve in the coming years.

Ever wonder how bad your road is? Now you can find out the official Pavement Condition Index (PCI) of your road. This is a measure of road condition on a scale from 1 to 100, with 100 being perfect. Below 30 is considered "failing" and between 31-50 "poor". 74 percent of Sonoma County roads are considered poor or failing. 

This report rates the condition of all the 1,370 miles of road in Sonoma County. It was conducted by consultants hired by the county Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW). The survey was conducted in 2012 and 2013 and the report was released in the spring of 2014.

The roads are listed alphabetically A-Z beginning on page 24. The first part of the report provides an interesting overview of pavement conditions and describes the methodology for the survey.

The report lists the road segments evaluated for each road, the PCI rating and estimate of remaining life of the road. As you might expect, many of the roads have zero remaining life.

As the board of supervisors move towards implementing the Long-Term Road Plan, the data in this report will be usefull to community groups who are organizing their neighborhoods to bring attention to their failed roads. If you would like more information on how to organize your neighborhood, see SaveLichauRoad.com. 

If you are organizing your neighborhood, let us know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is producing a series of videos on the deteriorating conditions of streets and roads in the nine county Bay Area. This video features one of Sonoma County's worst roads, Sonoma Mountain Road.
 
MTC is going to use the videos in an effort to convince legislators in Sacramento to make more funding available to repair rapidly declining roads.