Sonoma Streets Shine in Pothole Report

, too : Sonoma residents have a lot of concerns when it comes to street and road safety.

But Sonoma streets shine when it come road maintenance and pothole prevention, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission recently released report on the state of Bay Area roads.

The new report (attached) was based on analysis of pavement conditions conducted by the individual jurisdictions. It listed the pavement condition index (listed as PCI on the graphic below) for all nine counties and 101 cities in the Bay Area.

Sonoma's 68-miles of streets earned a "good" ranking with 77-points in 2010, exceeding the Bay Area average of 66 and clocking-in above the 60-point threshold at which “deterioration accelerates rapidly and the need for major rehabilitation becomes much more likely,” according to the report.

Sonoma also earned the highest score in the county: Both Rohnert Park (69-points) and Healdsburg (67-points) earned "fair" warnings this year, while Petaluma's 55-points merited an "at risk" assessment.

Still, there's room for improvement in Sonoma. Though Sonoma's superior score is cause for celebration, it has dropped in recent years: from 80-points in 2007, and 79-points in 2008, according to the report.

Also, the unincorporated sections of Sonoma County, including Boyes Hot Springs and other Sonoma environs, earned a "poor" ranking with 45-points, one of the lowest scores in the survey.

The MTC has established a 75-point score as a target for roadway quality in the long-range Transportation 2035 Plan it adopted in 2009.