Five-Year Plan Developed for County Roads

For Immediate Release –

Marin County, CA –

Approximately 199 miles of roadway across unincorporated Marin will be improved for an estimated $87M

In the ongoing mission to improve roads across unincorporated Marin, the Marin County Department of Public Works (DPW) staff has developed a new five-year plan of pavement resurfacing projects, outlining approximately 199 miles of roadway that are expected to be improved between the 2025 and 2029 paving seasons. As part of the Paving Program, an online interactive map has been developed to provide the public with an approximate overview of the work plan for the next five years.

DPW maintains over 420 miles of roads, which are critical infrastructure that people rely on every day to conduct their business, connect with surrounding communities and popular attractions, explore Marin’s beauty, and live their daily lives. Funding for the DPW’s Paving Program comes from five primary sources: the County’s General Fund, the state gasoline tax, Transportation Authority of Marin’s Measure AA, California Senate Bill 1 funding, and the Federal Highway Administration’s Federal Lands Access Program. Additionally, DPW staff continually seeks grant funding to bolster the budget. The estimated total cost of the five-year pavement resurfacing projects plan is approximately $87 million, which will be allocated incrementally with each fiscal year’s budget.

“Our commitment to improving Marin’s roads requires significant planning and funding,” said Christopher Blunk, Assistant Director of DPW. “The new five-year plan will undertake the effort in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible.”

Each paving season of the five-year plan addresses a separate selection of roads chosen from across all areas of unincorporated Marin, targeting an approximate total of 199 miles of roadway. The new online map resource provides a color-coded overlay of the County maintained road network segments that are currently scheduled to be addressed each year. DPW plans to implement a balance of roadway treatment types for the strategic selection of roads to maximize positive impact across all areas of the County.

Blunk stated that the first two years of the plan are more solidified than the subsequent three. For the final three years, the selection of roads may change depending on many variables, including design and permitting progress, availability of funding, coordination with utility companies, and priority shifts because of emergency projects, such as storm repair efforts.

“That’s a standard situation to be in with an extensive plan like this,” Blunk said. “We expect to need to adjust slightly as we get into more detail during project design work with each successive year. As some road segments may need to be rescheduled, we’re hopeful that we can add others to each paving season.”

DPW applies a racial equity lens when it comes to selecting projects. The approach helps ensure that Pavement Condition Index (PCI) in underserved areas is at least equivalent to the countywide average PCI. The standardized measurement identifies roadway quality on a 100-point scale (100 is a newly paved road), providing a snapshot in-time value for each road segment. The latest independently conducted assessment for the County was completed in December 2023 and resulted in a road network PCI average of 68, a two-point increase over the County’s previous average.

To maintain and improve the County road network, DPW utilizes a hybrid strategy of pavement maintenance, pavement preservation, pavement rehabilitation, and road reconstruction. Each of the approaches becomes successively more costly and projects become more disruptive as a road’s condition deteriorates. For example, $1 million may fund preventative maintenance for 14 miles of good condition road versus $1 million funding only 1 mile of reconstruction for a bad condition road. Another element of the hybrid strategy is interim pavement condition improvements, which typically combine various maintenance treatments to improve the function of lower-PCI roads and can extend the useful life of a road by seven to 15 years for a fraction of the cost or repaving.

The County of Marin road network is one of the agency’s largest assets with an estimated replacement value of $709 million according to the 2024 Pavement Management Technical Assistance Program Report. DPW’s five-year plan represents an approximately $87 million investment. Over the years, DPW has continually been able to increase the County average PCI. However, moving forward, more investment will be required to stay ahead of expected rate of road deterioration while continuing to increase the PCI score.