More than a quarter of the roads that the District of Columbia pays to maintain are considered to be in poor — or even “failed” — condition.
A District survey of the city’s pavement found that 26 percent of its locally funded road network was in “poor,” “very poor” or “failed” condition in 2008.
District Department of Transportation spokesman John Lisle cautioned drivers that “failed” doesn’t mean that the road is going to collapse.
Instead, he said, it’s a measure of the level of deterioration; for example, where the top portion of pavement is peeling off.
“There isn’t a simple description of what a failed road looks like,” he said.
The District uses a van equipped with sensors to measure the condition of the city’s road network every other year, Lisle said. Federally funded roads are surveyed annually.
The roads are then given a score from zero to 100. Unlike the classroom grading system, though, a “failed” grade is considered to be a score of 20 or less. More than 79 lane miles failed under that measure last year, according to the survey.
But that doesn’t mean all city roads are in bad shape. Of the District’s 1,100 miles of streets, about half the lane miles are eligible for federal maintenance money each year. Less than 6 percent of those roads were in poor or worse condition, according to the survey.
“There is a lot more federal money to spend than local,” Lisle said.
The federal government pays for 80 percent of the projects, Lisle added, while the District pays the rest.
The current budget has federal funds of $14.5 million, Lisle said, compared with $4.3 million in local funds. The city is receiving $1 million in federal stimulus money this year. That means the city has $3.60 in federal dollars for every $1 in local money.
Road crews tend to repair the worst roads first, Lisle said, but sometimes they will prioritize better roads to preserve them from needing a full replacement.
And some roads get quick fixes until a bigger repaving project can begin.
Earlier this spring, DDOT crews filled 6,084 potholes during a monthlong spree.
But the city has no major plans to change the overall road situation.
Included in DDOT’s performance goals for the coming budget cycle, the city plans to have 63 percent of streets in good or excellent condition — meaning 37 percent in “fair” or worse shape. That’s about the same level as the past three years.
