Oakland crews pave potholes on Skyline Boulevard

OAKLAND, Calif. - Oakland crews began paving over potholes on Skyline Boulevard – a popular and steep route for bicyclists – after KTVU revealed the city has paid out the most of any Bay Area city to people who have suffered serious injuries on this stretch of rough road. 

Department of Transportation director Josh Rowan on Thursday said he and his team realized that they could divert some of their pothole paving team to Skyline Boulevard, which had not originally been on their summer schedule. He said the project began on Wednesday and will likely take up to six weeks to complete. 

"So after your story, my team reached out to me and said, we could take some of our pothole crews and dedicate them to these bike routes in the hills that are in high need of repair," Rowan said. "And that's exactly what we're doing." 

Jeff Tiniaow of Lafayette, who was cycling up Skyline Boulevard, said of the paving: "it's long overdue." 

Earlier this month, KTVU revealed that Oakland paid out $27 million – the most on pothole lawsuit payouts of any major Bay Area city – in the last five years. 

San Jose has paid $8 million. And San Francisco paid out $26 million in the same time period for all street maintenance lawsuits; the city doesn’t parse out what is owed for pothole damages. Both cities have about 1 million people and are roughly three times the size of Oakland.

Oakland’s pothole payouts are so high because of two recent lawsuits, both of which were settled within the last year.

One record $6.5-million settlement was paid in December 2023 to Bruno Van Schoote, who injured his spine while riding his bike over a crack in the road along MacArthur Boulevard. The other $6.5-million settlement was paid in January to Lynne McDonald, who crashed her bike riding over a pothole on Grizzly Peak Boulevard causing serious injury and paralysis.

The Oaklandside was the first to have reported about their cases. 

Attorneys Steven Kronenberg and Anthony Label, of The Veen Firm in San Francisco, represented Van Schoote. 

Van Schoote's bicycle hit an uneven patch of road along McArthur Boulevard, throwing him onto the pavement. He suffered facial fractures and an injury to his spinal cord. 

"Oakland's infrastructure is a mess," Label said, adding that it's especially upsetting since Oakland touts itself as a bike-friendly city. 

In a separate case, Label and Kronenberg are also representing Ty Whitehead, who was training for an AIDS bicycle ride in 2017 from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

Whitehead was cycling on Skyline Boulevard when his bike hit a deep pothole. He flew over the handlebars, his helmet struck the pavement and his lawyer said he suffered a severe traumatic brain injury.

According to Whitehead's suit – which is still pending and being reviewed by the California Supreme Court – the city of Oakland "had known for years that the crumbling roadway had already caused injuries, but it considered potholes to be just an annoyance." 

The city of Oakland is arguing that Whitehead signed a release for the AIDS ride, releasing the city from any liability. 

Rowan isn't familiar with all the individual injuries that have occurred on Skyline Boulevard and other bike paths in Oakland.

But he and his team are indeed aware that these routes have cost the city an overrpresented proportion in terms of money and bicyclists in terms of physical and emotional pain. 

"We don't want to see severe injuries," Rowan said. "We don't want to see fatalities. Those are things that keep us awake at night. And yes, there's definitely a financial impact that, at the end of the day, is smart risk management for the city." 

In 2019, Oakland created an "equity score," a system to ensure that roads in lower income neighborhoods get priority for paving to undo years of being underserved. And in fact, crews have been out paving 60th Avenue this summer, which is a neighborhood in East Oakland.

But Rowan said that after realizing the damage potholes cause to bicyclists – including John Gilbert who was awarded $1.75 million after fracturing his skull and losing some hearing after a ride on Grizzly Peak Boulevard – the issue of equity can be seen as a "dynamic one." 

Rowan added that when he sees people get hurt, he takes it personally.

"And so we look to find ways systematically to make those improvements and changes within our streets so that they become safer for all users," Rowan said. 

Rowan added that he is playing catchup with paving, as for years, Oakland didn't keep up with its deferred maintenance.

He took the job in April and said the city's paving began in earnest six years ago, with the passage of a $350-million bond measure to fix the roads.

A total of 200 miles of road have been paved so far in Oakland since then. 

Rowan estimated Oakland will be fully repaved in 18 years.

In the meantime, Kronenberg said he's glad the city is finally using money to pave the roads, rather than paying his clients millions of dollars after their lives have been affected forever. 

"It would be great if Oakland could spend its taxpayer dollars on fixing the roads proactively," he said, "instead of having to pay for injuries that those dangerous roads cause after the fact." 

KTVU photographer Jacy Lockhart contributed to this report. 

 Lisa Fernandez is a reporter for KTVU. Email Lisa at lisa.fernandez@fox.com or call her at 510-874-0139. Or follow her on Twitter @ljfernandez