Fixing Tacoma’s bad streets would cost billions. That’s right, billions -- with a ‘B’
The city of Tacoma has mending roads on the mind.
It’s safe to assume that it isn’t exactly cheap to fix streets, but some folks might be interested in specifics: What would it cost to tend to Tacoma’s roads, all told?
Short answer: It’s in the billions — yes, that’s with a “B.”
Tacoma’s 2015 streets initiative, a tax package aimed mostly at improving residential roads, is set to expire next year. Now local officials want voters to pass a similar version come 2025, one geared more toward arterials.
The initial streets tax package was originally expected to raise $175 million but is now projected at $199 million through the end of 2025, Public Works Director Ramiro Chavez said earlier this year. Include other dollars, like grant-matched funds, and the initiative has amounted to a major roads investment of $371 million, The News Tribune previously reported.
What would it cost to fix all Tacoma streets?
Chavez noted the distinction between road maintenance and reconstruction during a September interview. With typical maintenance work, the city treats the surface of streets, he said. That could include sealing cracks to prevent water from seeping through and undermining the road surface.
Reconstruction, reserved for roads in poor condition, is more in-depth and might require removing the pavement and underlying gravel, Chavez said. It’s also far more expensive.
Regular preservation-type maintenance can extend a street’s life between two and six years, Chavez said.
“When we get into a rehab and overlay, per se, that takes us almost up to 12 years,” he added. “… And now, when we have a reconstruction, we can get up to 20 years.”
Erik Sloan, city of Tacoma pavement manager, said during a presentation at a June study session that “the cost of reconstruction is about 250 times more than that of preservation activities on average.”
Maintaining all the streets that need it would carry a price tag of $630 million if done all at the same time, Sloan explained. Things get even pricier from there. Tacoma’s backlog for streets in need of reconstruction, comprising the remaining 30% of the network, would cost an estimated $2.4 billion.
In other words, the total price tag to replace Tacoma’s roads rings up at about $3 billion.
All of this work couldn’t be accomplished at once, city spokesperson Maria Lee said in an August email. However, that estimate offers a good glimpse into the extent of the issue.
What about bringing roads to a complete-street standard?
That $3 billion estimate would pale in comparison to what it would cost to bring all Tacoma’s roads to a “complete-street” standard.
Complete-street thoroughfares are designed to foster safe, accessible travel for everyone — including people of all abilities and ages — and various modes of transport, the city notes on its website. Such bicycle-, transit- and pedestrian-friendly streets often have stormwater features, trees and landscaping.
“[T]o reconstruct every street to a complete-street standard would probably cost around $12.5 billion dollars all at once,” Sloan told city leaders in June. “So that’s a large number.”
Lee said keeping up with streets through maintenance and preservation is more cost-effective than allowing them to decline to the point that reconstruction is required.
While the breadth of its reconstruction backlog presents a challenge, the city is continuing to work on its Transportation Master Plan and “building on the success we’ve seen in the residential network as a part of the Streets Initiative,” Lee added in the August email.
This story was originally published October 23, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
