Rob AriasWhile many Emeryville residents have become weary of the constant disruptions caused by road construction, most likely realize it may be better than the alternative: potholed roads.
This alternative is just steps away for most residents living near the Oakland border where weaving around pockmarked roads is a necessary driving skill for those that want to preserve their vehicle’s wheels, tires, suspension, and alignment.
The disparity between municipalities has led to a phenomenon some call “The Oakland lip” where layers of asphalt show a distinct margin between regularly paved roads and ones that appear to have been neglected for decades.
Emeryville, as it turns out, is second in Alameda County in regular maintenance of its roads according to a recently published report.
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s 2024 Pavement Condition of Bay Area Jurisdictions report assigns each Bay Area City a “PCI” Score (Pavement Conditions Index). Each road is assigned a score between 100 (for a new or recently repaved road), and 0 (a street in complete, visible disrepair). This total score also factors in a city’s annual climate and precipitation, traffic loads and available maintenance funding.
According to this report, Emeryville ranked noticeably higher than adjacent cities and tied for tops in Alameda County. Emeryville and Dublin were both assigned PCI scores of 78 for 2024 placing them firmly in the MTC’s “good” tier.
All told, Emeryville ranks fourteenth within the nine Bay Area counties covered in the report that includes 101 cities and towns.
By contrast, Oakland received a score of 58 (“at-risk”), while Berkeley scored 68 (“fair”). For context, Emeryville only has 47.4 lane miles while Berkeley has 450 and Oakland has 2,052. “Lane miles” are a standardized way used by the MTC to measure how much roadway surface is being evaluated and maintained, accounting for both road length and number of lanes.
Emeryville also scored significantly higher than Piedmont (62), who are the only city in the county with a smaller population than Emeryville. Emeryville achieved this despite being a “jobs center” and having a significantly higher daytime population (regularly estimated to be between 30,000 and 40,000 during the weekday although this figure has likely dampened in recent years by the pandemic/remote work).
Other Alameda County cities in the good tier include Pleasanton (76), Livermore (75), Hayward (73), Fremont (71) and Newark (71). Collectively, Alameda County ranked sixth among the nine Bay Area counties.
Regionwide, only a small group of affluent or less-trafficked communities topped the list, with places like Larkspur (87), Palo Alto (83) and Orinda (82) earning “very good” ratings.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Vallejo again posted the lowest score in the Bay Area with a PCI of 44 (the region’s only “poor” rating).
The entire region again scored an average of 67, a “fair” rating that MTC has assigned for ten consecutive years.
MTC officials say the report reflects the continuing challenge of deferred maintenance across the region, where the cost of repaving roads that fall into poor condition can more than triple. Emeryville’s comparatively strong rating suggests consistent investment, though the agency notes that even “good” roads require ongoing funding to prevent decline.
The agency warns that most Bay Area roads are aging into the stage where routine maintenance is no longer sufficient and more costly rehabilitation will soon be required.
The MTC publishes a software tool called StreetSaver that it licenses to local municipalities to help cities and counties in the Bay Area and around the country “make maintenance decisions that stretch their pavement budgets further.”
It’s important to note that this report only includes 2024 data and the City’s ongoing Sustainable Streetscapes Project is likely to propel Emeryville’s rating in the 2025 report next year.
Well, I will leave a more detailed report shortly that has a greater grip on reality.
Thanks for the info, Rob. I am thankful for our street conditions here in E’Ville. You talk about the damage poor streets do to cars – try being a biker and the damage poor streets do on one’s body. Your story showed a good example of differences between Oakland and E’Ville. A better one is to compare 65th St. That is a major connector street and Oakland has improved several other streets in the area but for some reason they do very little on 65th., and my body knows it.
Thank you Steven. Obviously, non-potholed roads are as beneficial to those on two wheels (or even 1 I suppose with those electric unicycles I’ve been seeing more of) as four. I regret not mentioning this in the story.
The constant digging and yes, neverending construction down so many of our roadways as of the past year+ has nothing to do with potholes.
Your framing indicates a false dichotomy. Emeryville typically has had few potholes to maintain or remedy. Even when it looked like the city had finished up outside of Honor recently, construction crews reappeared yet again to block off part of the same intersection for further digging.
Thankful for the city’s investment in maintaining our roads and redesigning them to be safer for all.