In Our View: City Shows Street Smarts

As anybody who has experienced the bumps and jolts of driving throughout Vancouver can attest, street maintenance has not been a high priority for the city in recent years.

That is not because of a lack of attention by officials, but rather a lack of funding. During the economic downturn of the Great Recession, maintenance of streets, sidewalks, medians and parks lost priority as the city tightened its belt. Maintaining a high level of livability in Vancouver or anywhere else comes with a cost, meaning that it is good news that the city again is able to focus upon maintaining streets. Kicking such maintenance down the road — so to speak — makes the city less attractive and a less enjoyable place to live.

In 2015, the city council approved increases to utility taxes and passed a new Transportation Benefit District tab fee of $20 per vehicle. That fee will double to $40 this summer, and while it is tempting to decry an increase in fees and taxes, it is helpful to see the benefits provided by those increases.

“It really gives us a dedicated funding source going forward,” said Ryan Lopossa, the city’s streets and transportation manager. “That’s given us the chance to take our pavement program and get into the neighborhood streets that we hadn’t been able to in the past.”

The new revenue translated to an additional $3.5 million in pavement work last year, allowing maintenance and improvement on some arterial streets rather than only primary roads. It also has allowed the city to address sidewalks, medians and parks. For example, Vancouver has hired a sidewalk inspector and taken a proactive approach to maintenance rather than making repairs on only a complaint-driven basis.

At its heart, such maintenance helps create a community that can attract residents and businesses. Vancouver recently released its 2017 Community Survey, which found that 70 percent of respondents consider the city an “excellent” or “very good” place to live. According to city officials, only Bellingham and Beaverton, Ore., have received higher ratings in similar surveys.

Interestingly, street maintenance was ranked by Vancouver residents as being among the most important city services — along with fire and emergency medical services, police services, managing traffic and protecting the natural environment. Judging by the number of public complaints over the years, street maintenance is, indeed, important to local residents.

Such maintenance is an ongoing issue, with potholes popping up seemingly faster than they can be filled. In October, The Columbian reported that Vancouver crews filled 3,740 potholes between March and August, using 62 tons of asphalt cold mix. Clark County, to that point in 2017, had used 292 tons of pothole-filling material.

All of that highlights the difficulty of keeping local streets smooth and drivable. Failure to do so not only makes for a bouncy journey, it can damage cars. The city of Vancouver, Clark County and the Washington State Department of Transportation all have programs through which drivers can seek reimbursement for damage created by potholes, but history demonstrates that it is difficult to prove negligence and receive compensation.

Instead, residents are better off if jurisdictions have the means to be proactive in dealing with pockmarked roads. In addressing the issue, Vancouver is demonstrating some much-needed street smarts.