20 Greater Fallbrook roads on county road resurfacing list

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The preliminary County of San Diego list of road segments to be resurfaced includes 20 in Greater Fallbrook.

A 4-0 vote by San Diego County Board of Supervisors June 14, with one vacant seat, adopted a resolution with the list of projects to be funded by Fiscal Year 2023-24 Road Repair and Accountability Act revenue. The road segments include ten in Fallbrook, five in Rainbow, three in Pauma Valley and two in Bonsall.

The Road Repair and Accountability Act was passed by the state legislature in 2017 and raised the gas tax by 12 cents per gallon while raising annual vehicle registration fees from $25 to $175 based on vehicle value. The stipulations require that local governments submit a list of projects to be funded by Road Repair and Accountability Act revenue to the California Transportation Commission. The county's Department of Public Works (DPW) is anticipating $55.9 million of Road Repair and Accountability Act funding during 2023-24, and if the list is unchanged, 100.41 centerline miles throughout the unincorporated county will be resurfaced.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers developed a pavement condition index (PCI) that utilizes specialized vehicles with downward-facing cameras to inspect roads and determine the road condition. The county's average PCI was adversely affected by rising construction costs, decreases in state funding, and declining gas tax revenue due to more fuel-efficient cars and electric vehicles. The PCI average fell from 71 in 2010 to 60 in 2016. The county's intent in 2017 was to use the Road Repair and Accountability Act money to restore the PCI average to 70, and the current plan is to have a PCI average of 70 by 2025. The current PCI average is 68.

A road with a PCI of 71 to 100 is considered very good, and those roads need only routine maintenance. A segment with a PCI of 51 to 70 is considered good, and sealing is the primary remediation method. Roads with a PCI of 26 to 50 are considered poor, and an overlay is used to restore those roads. Streets with a PCI of 25 or lower are considered very poor and require major rehabilitation including the removal of all asphalt and the subgrade base.

DPW uses a pavement management system which incorporates field review, resident and community input, and mechanical test data to determine which roads are most in need of resurfacing. The structural deterioration of pavement is measured visibly by assessing the degree and type of cracking, the surface deterioration and the surface defects.

The road maintenance program also evaluates the preferred rehabilitation strategy. Asphalt concrete pavement overlays are used for severely degraded roads with extensive cracking or potholes, although if the road has only minor cracking and no significant surface damage, a thinner layer of slurry seals may be applied to protect the road. Road segments with overlay treatment have a life expectancy of 10 to 15 years following the repaving. Slurry seal treatment provides a subsequent life expectancy of 7 to 10 years.

Two of the Fallbrook road segments slated to be resurfaced will have a life expectancy of 7 to 10 years after the slurry seal treatment is applied: 0.25 miles of Fallbrook Street from Main Avenue to Elbrook Drive and 1.15 miles of East Mission Road between Live Oak Park Road and Macadamia Drive.

The other eight Fallbrook segments will have overlay treatment with a life expectancy of 10 to 15 years. Those are the 0.39 miles of Aviation Road from Alturas Road to Mission Road, 0.13 miles of Beech Street between Mission Road and Main Avenue, 0.31 miles of College Street from Mission Road to the end of the county-maintained road, 0.97 miles of East Mission Road between Live Oak Park Road and Sterling View Drive, 0.25 miles of Elbrook Drive between Elder Street and Fallbrook Street, 0.25 miles of Elder Street between the beginning of the county-maintained road and Brandon Road, 0.04 miles of Mission Road between South Mission Road and the end of the county-maintained road, and 0.65 miles of Old Highway 395 between Sterling View Drive and the Mission Road connector.

The five Rainbow segments will all have overlay resurfacing and a subsequent life expectancy of 10 to 15 years. The plans are to resurface 0.79 miles of Huffstatler Street from Rainbow Valley Boulevard to First Street, 0.08 miles of Rainbow Glen Road from Rainbow Valley Boulevard to Old Highway 395, 0.98 miles of Rainbow Valley Boulevard from Chica Street to the Riverside County line, 0.66 miles of Rainbow Valley Boulevard from Huffstatler Street to Eighth Street, and 0.45 miles of Rainbow Valley Boulevard West from Rainbow Valley Boulevard to the cul-de-sac. The five road segments were also on the Fiscal Year 2022-23 list and were deferred.

The planned Pauma Valley resurfacing will provide overlay treatment on 0.64 miles of Old Cole Grade Road from Cole Grade Road to the end of the county-maintained road, 0.47 miles of Pauma Valley Drive from Cole Grade Road to the end of Pauma Valley Drive, and 0.17 miles of Spring Valley Road from Cole Grade Road to the cul-de-sac. Those three road segments were also on the 2022-23 list.

Slurry seal treatment with an expectancy of 7 to 10 years is planned for 2.08 miles of Gopher Canyon Road in Bonsall between Old Highway 395 and Nella Lane. An overlay treatment with a life expectancy of 10 to 15 years is slated for 1.02 miles of Old Highway 395 in Bonsall from West Lilac Road to 350 feet south of the Interstate 15 south ingress.

The California Transportation Commission allows changes to the list of roads to be funded with Road Repair and Accountability Act money. DPW will undertake a design process including in-depth road reviews and coordination with utilities, community groups, and other stakeholders. Information collected during the design process will be used to determine the final list. After DPW develops a final list, the resurfacing will return to the Board of Supervisors for authorization to advertise and award one or more construction contracts for the resurfacing work.