Stockton plans to ask California transportation officials for roughly $8.3 million in gas tax dollars to fix worn city streets, sidewalks, bridges and other structures this year, the city council voted this week.
Councilmembers voted 7-0 Tuesday in favor of what Public Works Director Chad Reed called a “50,000-foot plan” to repair and maintain the streets. Now, the city will send the plan to transportation officials in exchange for Stockton’s yearly slice of the billions California collects annually in gas and diesel taxes and vehicle fees, according to Reed.
Widespread street cracking, potholes and damaged sidewalks and curbs across Stockton may lead some drivers to wonder if their money is making a dent. Rightly so: Californians have paid at least 30 cents per gallon on top of regular gas prices since 2017, when state Senate Bill 1 skyrocketed road repair funding by creating the tax.
“There was a recognition that public works departments across the state were not able to have enough funding to maintain the roads,” Reed said Wednesday.
Not everyone backed the tax. While contracting companies, local transportation officials and numerous cities including Stockton and Lodi supported the law, bicycling and environmental groups and an anti-tax group fought it, analyses show.
In Reed’s view, the tax was critical.
“This is the No. 1 income for our street maintenance program,” he said. “If we didn’t have this, basically our streets would be in even worse condition.”
Under the plan the city council approved Tuesday, roughly $5.7 million in gas tax money would go toward resurfacing about 40 miles of roadway across Stockton, a project list shows.
Rough roads are the most frequent topic of complaints to public works, according to Reed.
“Our No. 1 complaint is potholes,” he said. No. 2 is “alligator cracking,” he said — when weight and use cause asphalt to line and split, resembling an alligator’s back.
Those cracks allow water to seep into the street’s base, he explained. “It’s just a recipe for failure.”
Another $1.5 million of the tax money would go toward replacing Stockton’s damaged sidewalks, curbs and gutters and building pedestrian ramps, the project list shows. Half a million would pay for maintenance of Stockton’s roughly 60 bridges.
Smaller sums would repaint faded traffic stripes as well as railings, streetlight poles and other fixtures, the list shows.
Once Stockton receives the $8.3 million, public works can start hiring contractors to fix the issues, according to Reed. The exact locations and dates of the repairs will be narrowed down during and after bidding. And each repair project will still have to come before the city council again, Reed explained.
On top of this complexity, the flow of road repair cash from the state could soon be disrupted, analysts say.
As state government aims to fight climate change — including pushing for all cars and light trucks sold in California to be zero-emission by 2035 — fewer gas cars on the road would likely means less gas taxes to spend on repairs, analysts say.
Yet wear and tear will continue. “Whether it’s gas or EV ... they would need to travel on roads and highways, therefore causing damage,” Reed said.
So, California transportation officials are currently testing ways of taxing travel that aren't tied to gas, The LA Times reported.
“Either way, a funding source for road maintenance similar to SB1 would need to be identified,” Reed said.
Record reporter Aaron Leathley covers government accountability. She can be reached at aleathley@recordnet.com or on Twitter @LeathleyAaron. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
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