The City of Benicia operates and maintains 195 lane miles of roads that connect passenger vehicles, transit, and commercial vehicles safely in, out and around our town. Put together, the City’s road network includes 0.61 square miles (390 acres) of paved surface. The Engineering Division of the Public Works Department is responsible for developing the City's annual roadway maintenance and rehabilitation projects.

Benicia Roads Today

The Public Works Department regularly examines the City’s roads to determine the pavement condition and the type of maintenance or rehabilitation that is needed. Roads are given a Pavement Condition Index (PCI) score on a scale of 0 to 100. Roads with a PCI between 70 and 100 are “good”, between 50 and 69 are “fair”, between 25 and 49 are “poor”, and between 0 and 24 are “failed”. Presently more than half of the City’s streets are rated poor or failed. Overall, the City’s network PCI is 52. Historically, the City’s network PCI has been in a multi-decade downward trend. In 2026, the deferred maintenance, or the value of repairs/maintenance that are needed but have been delayed or backlogged, was calculated to be $64.3 million.

The Road Ahead

In November 2024, Benicia residents passed Measure F, a 0.5% sales tax increase that is earmarked exclusively for repairing Benicia’s streets, potholes, and sidewalks. The sales tax increase went into effect on April 1, 2025. Measure F is anticipated to generate $4 million annually, bringing the total annual budget for roadway maintenance and repair to an estimated $5 to 5.5 million. The additional funding from Measure F allows the City for the first time to develop a comprehensive road maintenance and rehabilitation plan, with the goal of treating every residential street by 2040.

Road Maintenance Strategy - Pavement Zones

Residential and local streets have been separated into 24 geographic zones. Each zone includes 300,000 to 500,000 square feet of pavement. The cost to treat a zone depends on the condition of the pavement within the zone. For example, Zone 9 around Robert Semple Elementary School has a $250,000 treatment cost, because the zone has mostly streets that are in good condition and require only surface treatments. In contrast, Zone 14 has a treatment cost of $3.5 million, because the streets are in poor condition and require more extensive rehabilitation.

The City intends to treat 2-4 zones each year, expending approximately $4 to 4.5 million per year on residential and local streets. Every street in a selected zone will receive treatment, regardless of condition. Streets that are rated "good" will typically receive only a surface treatment (slurry seal or micro surface), an inexpensive treatment that prolongs the life of the pavement and should be applied every 7 to 9 years. Streets in worse condition will receive more extensive and expensive rehabilitation such as multi-layer surface treatments, an overlay or a grind and overlay, or a full depth reclamation. The reason the "good" streets within a zone will still be treated is to prevent those roads from reaching "poor/failed" condition and needing the more expensive treatments.

In addition to the residential streets within the zones, about $1 million per year on average will be dedicated to treating major roadways, such as arterials (E 2nd Street, Military, Southampton, etc) and collectors (Hastings, E 5th Street, W K Street, etc.). No zones will be repeated until all 24 zones have been treated. The City’s residential and local pavement zones map is available for download at the bottom of this webpage.

Zone Selection

Zone selection is an iterative process. Many factors are considered, including available funds, pavement condition, reduction in lifecycle costs, the cost to treat a zone or street, proximity to other selected zones or recently treated zones, potential conflict or integration with planned public works projects (ie underground utility replacements), and other factors. The goal is to maximize the project benefit and efficiently use available funds.

December 10, 2024 Update on Measure F Funding