California Healthy Highways
State of California •
Department of Transportation
March 19, 2014, Sacramento, CA ____
Caltrans has announced that the condition of the pavement on California’s
highways is at its healthiest level in more than a decade, according to the
recently released 2013 State of the Pavement Report.
“It’s important to maintain and
preserve the existing transportation system first and foremost before making
other improvements,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “This
improvement i our pavement proves that we are committed to doing just that.”
Caltrans reported that the percent of
healthy pavement on the state highway system increased from 75 to 84 percent
from 2011 to 2013 – an increase of 4,500 lane miles of smoother pavement.
Caltrans maintains its aging state
highway system even while it carries nearly 35 million vehicles. Each year, the
department surveys the condition of its pavement to determine how much of the
system needs maintenance.
Annual maintenance needs far outpace
dependable funding, but Caltrans uses high-tech strategies, recycling, and
innovative treatments to make pavement last longer, to stretch every dollar and
to preserve the environment. Cold-in-place recycling allows Caltrans to recycle
and reprocess existing pavement without leaving the construction site. That
method, and using rubberized hot-mix asphalt and warm-mix asphalt, has reduced
more than 61,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Caltrans used one-time funds from the
2006 Proposition 1B transportation bond and the 2009 Recovery Act to help pay
for nearly $4 billion in pavement projects on nearly 18,000 lane miles in the
last four years. Continued improvement of pavement health is contingent on a
stable funding source for road rehabilitation and repair.
Caltrans reported on pavement health
and other road maintenance conditions earlier this year in its publication Mile
Marker, a plain language and clearly written report on how Caltrans is
performing and the current state of the California transportation system. Mile
Marker is available online at http://www.dot.ca.gov/