Oakland crews pave 60th Avenue, considered one of the worst streets in the city. June 10, 2024
OAKLAND, Calif. - Oakland has paved 200 miles of roads, Mayor Sheng Thao announced Wednesday on social media.
In a video she shared, Thao stood alongside the new Department of Transportation director, Josh Rowan, touting the achievement while standing on 60th Avenue between Tevis Street and International Boulevard – among the worst roads in the city.
Thao even picked up a jackhammer for the video, showing Oakland's investment in East Oakland, a low-income neighborhood that's part of the city's equity-investment plan.
Rowan explained that the city isn't just paving over potholes, crews are also building ADA-compliant curbs and sidewalks.
He said in the last six years, Oakland has paved 200 miles, an achievement reached in late May. That's roughly 25% of what needs to be done.
But, Rowan noted, the city is paving at a much faster pace than it used to.
From 2000 to 2018, the city had paved just 100 miles.
"Another way to say that," Rowan said in the video. "In the last six years, these guys have paved in six years what used to take 20 years to accomplish."
In a separate interview this week, Rowan said that the paving couldn't have been accomplished without the influx of money from Measure KK, which voters passed in 2016.
That money provided $350 million over a 10-year period to fix the roads.
Rowan estimated that half the city will be paved in another five years at an estimated rate of filling 25,000 potholes a year. Oakland will be fully re-paved in 18 years, Rowan estimated.
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