Understanding Concord’s road repair system

CONCORD, CA (Oct. 21, 2024) — You cannot turn a corner onto a major road in Concord without seeing the results of an extensive effort to upgrade our roads.

Willow Pass, Monument, Oak Grove and Treat are all getting major resurfacing as part of a five-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP in government speak). Other roads are getting enhanced treatment, such as Cowell and the lower end of Detroit to name just a few.

But, of course, the question always comes up: “How about my street?”

As with many things in these times, there is always the insinuation if not outright accusation that some areas are being prioritized based on a host of emotional triggers.

In reality, Concord’s road repair priority is overall governed by an optimalization plan that has us repairing in each of the ranges of condition called Pavement Condition Index (PCI). The staff makes a recommendation to the Infrastructure Standing Committee composed of two City Council members (it changes each year). The big CIP plans then go to the full council and are subject to the usual “What about this place …?”

In the past (before districts), the city would rotate concentrated CIP projects in one of the handful of areas that staff determined as Road Districts. The idea then was to optimize costs – because it is cheaper to cluster work in one area – and minimize disruption to one focused area of the city at a time.

However, with the advent of political districts in 2018, the targeting concept was changed so that we would compromise on cost factors so as to not create a perception of one area getting priority over another. It also means that we now have multiple disruptions all over the place at the same time, such as currently with Monument and Treat and downtown and North/East Willow Pass.

Meanwhile, curb treatment so that wheelchairs and baby carriages can transition is included in the major CIP projects. It is also supplemented by groups of residential street corners done independently of the planned CIP work.

You can check the city website at cityofconcord.org to see the Capital Improvement Plans for the next few years.

Please understand that we are going to be repairing streets that are better than yours and those that are worse than yours as part of our optimization policy. We will get to the roads wherever they are, even your roads.

If you would like to meet to discuss this or something else, let me know at edibirsan@gmail.com.