Mill Valley locks in a five-year paving plan with one big condition

Good morning! Today we’re talking road conditions and pavement schedules, so grab that coffee and I’ll see you back here in a few minutes.

🌤️ Today's weather: Mostly cloudy through mid-morning, then gradual clearing. High near 70°F. Increasing clouds overnight with a low around 51°F. (Source: National Weather Service)

Today's newsletter: Mill Valley's new five-year paving plan, the Tam Junction placemaking study, and what's happening around town today. This Briefing is about 1,048 words, a 5-minute read.

- Written and edited by Franz Strasser-Galvis

On Monday, the City Council voted 4-0 to adopt a five-year street maintenance plan covering 60 centerline miles of road, with a total budget of $18.2 million through 2030. Construction begins this month.

Where things stand: The citywide Pavement Condition Index stands at 79, up from 73 when the previous five-year plan launched in 2018. The plan, developed by Pavement Engineering Inc. on contract with the city, is designed to hold that ground while working through the 17% of streets still rated fair to failed. It alternates between maintenance years, which are slurry seal treatments that cover more streets at lower cost, and rehabilitation years targeting the worst stretches requiring full reconstruction in some cases.

What happens when: Work beginning this month focuses along Miller Avenue from the Almonte city limit through downtown, plus a sweep of residential streets in the downtown flats: Locust, Elm, Fern, Ryan and Valley Circle among others. The harder work comes later. Kipling Drive between Longfellow and Roque Moraes carries a PCI of 7 and is scheduled for full reconstruction in 2027. Tamalpais Avenue runs through multiple sections rated between PCI 5 and 54 and is one of the larger rehabilitation targets in the plan, scheduled for 2029.

The context: The strategy behind the sequencing is deliberate. The city is running two tracks simultaneously: preserving roads already in good condition with inexpensive surface treatments, while working through the worst streets over a longer horizon. According to city officials, the goal is to bring every road up to maintenance condition within 12 years. The cost logic drives that timeline. Maintaining a road in good condition runs roughly $7 to $9 per square yard, according to the staff report. Grinding and repaving a failed road costs $122 to $250 per square yard, depending on the treatment. Doing the worst roads first and ignoring the rest accelerates deterioration across the whole network and costs more in the long run.

The funding question: The plan draws on six funding sources. The most consequential is the Municipal Service Tax, a parcel tax that voters have approved four times since 1987 and that expires in June 2027. An anticipated $500,000-per-year MST increase beginning in FY2027-28 is already built into the plan's projections for years three through five, contingent on voters approving renewal on the November 2026 ballot. Without it, a scenario analysis by Pavement Engineering Inc., included in the May 4 staff report, projects the PCI would fall from 79 to 77 and the backlog of deferred road work would grow 85% over five years, from $10.2 million to $18.9 million.

What could change: The schedule is not fixed. The city’s Public Works staff told the council Monday that the plan requires constant adjustment as utility companies pull encroachment permits and unplanned work emerges. PG&E's planned 13-mile undergrounding project along West Blithedale, starting in 2027, directly overlaps with streets on the paving list. City Manager Todd Cusimano said PG&E has told city staff it may contribute to repaving costs on streets it disturbs. A mid-term review is scheduled in two to three years.

Marin County this week released a summary of public comments from two April community meetings on the Tam Junction Placemaking Study, a multi-year effort to reimagine the commercial strip along Shoreline Highway in unincorporated Mill Valley.