Record spending on street repair in San Diego over the past three years has allowed the city to meet a goal of paving or sealing 1,000 miles of streets nearly two years ahead of the 2020 goal.

The faster-than-expected pace will allow San Diego to pave or seal 1,500 miles of streets by summer 2020 instead of 1,000 miles, Mayor Kevin Faulconer said in a news release on Monday.

If that pace continues, crews will have upgraded half of the roadways in San Diego, which has 2,668 miles of asphalt streets, 120 miles of concrete streets and 204 miles of paved alleys.

The city’s aggressive approach has been necessary after decades of neglect blamed on lean budget years and past city leaders not prioritizing infrastructure projects, Faulconer said.


During the last recession a decade ago, there was a one-year stretch in which only 25 miles of streets were repaired, he said. That’s now the monthly pace for the city.

“This is really 1,000 miles and counting because we’re going to keep paving until every street in every neighborhood gets fixed,” Faulconer said. “This is a great start and we know there’s a lot more work to do.”

The city has spent about $300 million on street repair since the mayor’s 2015 pledge, and another $76 million is slated for the budget year that began July 1.

City crews paved the 1,000th mile of street in early October on Los Altos Road at Collingwood Drive in Pacific Beach, officials determined.


The progress can be monitored at streets.sandiego.gov, an interactive website where residents can click on their street and see what work has taken place, what work is planned and how the street was rated in a 2016 independent assessment.

In that assessment, 60 percent of individual streets were classified in good condition, with 34 percent deemed fair and 6 percent classified as poor.

In 2011, 35 percent of streets were in good condition, 40 percent were deemed fair and 25 percent were classified as poor.

City officials have been using the assessment to determine which streets get fixed first and whether individual streets need to be sealed, paved or completely rebuilt.


The 1,007 miles of street repair work since summer 2015 has included 704 miles of slurry seal, 299 miles of asphalt overlay and four miles of concrete streets.

The focus on street repair has tripled the city’s annual infrastructure spending to $553 million in the budget year that began July 1. That’s up from $179 million five years ago.


david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick