A survey of America’s roads claims those in the Mission Viejo suburban area are worse than Philadelphia and Detroit. The report found California’s roads to be the worst in the nation, and the Mission Viejo sector was worse than the California average.
The study didn’t identify the boundaries of the MV area. Mission Viejo has a population of 100,000 but the city’s name represents an area of over 500,000 population.
The study was conducted by the Association of State Highway Transportation Officials and TRIP and summarized in the Rough Roads Report. The findings, based on Federal Highway Administration data supplied by states for 2007, led to a conclusion that roads in the Mission Viejo urban area were costing drivers an average of $571 in additional operating costs annually.
The analysis found only 11% of MV area roads were in good condition and 5% fair. The other 84% were poor or mediocre compared to 66% statewide.
Nationwide, the twenty large urban regions (500,000-plus population) with the greatest share of major roads and highways with pavements in poor condition were: Los Angeles, 64 percent; San Jose, 61 percent; San Francisco-Oakland, 61 percent; Honolulu, 61 percent; Concord, CA, 54 percent; New York – Newark, 54 percent; San Diego, 53 percent; New Orleans, 49 percent; Tulsa, 47 percent; Palm Springs – Indio, CA, 47 percent; Riverside-San Bernardino, 44 percent; Baltimore, 44 percent; Sacramento, 44 percent; Omaha, 41 percent; Oklahoma City, 41 percent; San Antonio, 38 percent; Mission Viejo, CA, 37 percent; Albuquerque, 36 percent; Philadelphia, 36 percent; and Detroit, 36 percent. Recently the City received $1.9 million in federal stimulus funds which will be used to resurface sections of three local arterials. The City Council is due to formulate a new budget in June for next year’s roadwork.
“The public is paying for these poor road conditions twice,” says Mark Watts, executive director of Transportation California, “first through additional vehicle costs and then in higher road repair and construction costs.”
| City | Size | Poor | Medicore | Fair | Good | Additional $ cost per motorist |
| Los Angeles | + | 64% | 28% | 5% | 3% | $746 |
| San Jose | + | 61% | 29% | 8% | 2% | $732 |
| San Francisco-Oakland | + | 61% | 22% | 4% | 13% | $705 |
| Santa Rosa | - | 52% | 39% | 8% | 1% | $684 |
| San Diego | + | 53% | 31% | 6% | 10% | $664 |
| Concord | + | 54% | 19% | 17% | 9% | $656 |
| Antioch | - | 58% | 13% | 9% | 21% | $652 |
| Hemet | - | 44% | 53% | 1% | 2% | $650 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino | + | 44% | 44% | 7% | 4% | $632 |
| Sacramento | + | 44% | 44% | 4% | 8% | $622 |
| Palm Springs-Indio | + | 47% | 28% | 10% | 15% | $608 |
| Stockton | - | 42% | 34% | 8% | 16% | $580 |
| Mission Viejo | + | 37% | 47% | 5% | 11% | $571 |
| Temecula-MurrietaV | - | 35% | 53% | 7% | 5% | $571 |
| Oxnard-Ventura | - | 36% | 45% | 11% | 8% | $560 |
| Victorville-Hesperia | - | 37% | 36% | 15% | 11% | $552 |
| Modesto | - | 34% | 39% | 17% | 10% | $538 |
| Fresno | + | 28% | 35% | 14% | 23% | $461 |
| Lancaster-Palmdale | + | 13% | 40% | 24% | 23% | $350 |
| Bakersfield | + | 5% | 38% | 33% | 23% | $280 |
| Statewide Average | 35% | 31% | 16% | 18% | $590 | |
| National Average | $335 |
+ Urban Areas 500,000 + population
- Urban Areas 250,000 to 499,000 population
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
This study is totally off the mark. I spent the first 18 years of my professional career in Detroit and Southeastern Michigan. I return just about yearly.
To say Mission Viejo roads are worse is totally ridiculous. The winter weather with the ice, snow, freeze and thaw cycles with a healthy dose of salt to keep the ice melted destroys Detroits roads. They turn into tank traps and obstacle courses each spring! We do not have that issue in Mission Viejo.
While I do agree our Mission Viejo roads have been playing second fiddle to kiosks, Rose Parade Floats, Easels, and excessive Mexican Sand Palm trees, to say our roads are worse than Detroit’s just does not play out. I highly question the credibility of this report!
The problem we do have is that the slopes have deteriorated and the roads in the neighborhoods need attention.
The Agenda Book for the April 20, 2009 City Council meeting contained a Narrative that stated that Mission Viejo has streets that are over 30 years old, and have never been repaved. If you look at page 18 under Agenda Item # 9, it lists 21 streets that have been identified as substandard.
It’s pretty clear those who had input to that study haven’t taken a drive back east. People in the Northeast learn from the day they take their first driving lesson to dodge the potholes. While I’ve seen some pot holes crop up this year around our parts, the roads in general are superb as compared to the Midwest or Northeast.
I have navigated as recently as this year roads around New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Washington DC and can say – as an eye witness – that roads in South Orange County in general and Mission Viejo in particular have a long way to go before they even remotely approach the deterioration of the roads in those areas!
Unfortunately this study didn’t specify whether the “poor” roads were primary or secondary. Perhaps they were the secondary or neighborhood roads, never having been repaved in 30 years. Having spent the first 38 years of my life in Chicago, I can assure you that even on a bad day, none of MV’s primary roads even come close to what one experiences in the Midwest annually. I’m going to check out the Agenda Book that Cathy Schlicht mentions. Then I’m going to find those 21 streets and take a ride over them.