Half Moon Bay’s streets are among the worst in the Bay Area

Half Moon Bay has some of the worst roads in the Bay Area, and the unincorporated areas of San Mateo County aren’t much better. And if they’re not fixed up, they’re going to start deteriorating faster.  The good news is that their condition is improving.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission has released a report that examines, among other things, the condition of Bay Area roads, based on data from 2003 and 2002.

According to data reported by the city and county, Half Moon Bay’s roads were 95th out of 106 localities reporting [PDF] and the incorporated areas of San Mateo County were roughly (no pun intended) 60th.

I spoke with MTC pavement maven Theresa Romell, who told me that with a condition of "fair", Half Moon Bay’s roads were in danger of deteriorating much more quickly if they are not repaired right away. HMB roads’ Pavement Condition Index did move up from 48 to 55 between 2002 and 2003. The PCI is derived from the amount of damage, from cracks to potholes, per inspected unit of road.

Unincorporated San Mateo County roads, with a PCI of 63, aren’t that much better.

UPDATE:  City Council member Mike Ferreira and City Engineer Paul Nagengast dispute some of the findings of this study. I’ve posted a followup story.

Metropolitan Transportation Commission

When a road reaches a condition of "fair", its condition deteriorates much more quickly if it is not repaired.  Half Moon Bay is near the top of the "fair" distribution and the County is near the bottom of "good".