St. Pete struggles to keep pace with road deterioration

The vast majority of roads in St. Petersburg are in satisfactory or good condition. However, officials are losing the race against deterioration, and recent storms have exacerbated the issue.

The number of failed roadway segments has plummeted from 37 in 2019, when the city conducted its first pavement condition assessment, to just one in 2024. Administrators presented the latest data to city council members at a committee meeting Thursday.

Michael Gebler, senior capital projects coordinator, said the goal is to preserve 110 miles of pavement annually. The city has the funding and capacity necessary to complete 50 miles.

“If we do 110 next year, that’s not going to help,” Gebler said. “We have a bunch of maintenance that we’ve deferred for the past 10 years that we need to catch up on.”

The citywide pavement condition score was 75 in 2019. That number decreased slightly, to 74.3, in 2024.

Officials consider a score of 55 or below the “critical threshold” for milling, removing existing pavement with specialized machinery, and rebuilding a road. Nearly 1,500 segments met that criterion in 2024.

Gebler said patching and treating a deteriorated road will bring the score to 100. The number of street segments in serious and very poor condition has decreased significantly since the first study.

However, an increase in roads considered satisfactory coincided with a drop in those in good condition. “A decrease here is telling us that more roadways are getting worse than we can actually keep up with,” Gebler said.

A graphic highlighting St. Petersburg’s pavement condition inventory (PCI). Image: City documents.

The nearly 1,500 segments below the city’s critical threshold “are no longer eligible for pavement preservation.” Gebler noted that reconstruction is decidedly more expensive.

His department works to align roadway work with other projects. Brejesh Prayman, director of engineering and capital improvements, said that combining repaving and resurfacing with streetscaping and stormwater improvements results in cost savings for multiple departments.

Material costs nearly tripled from 2019 to 2024. In addition, Prayman noted that any pavement alterations now require new curb ramps for people with disabilities, pedestrian and bicyclist signage and lane striping.

Gebler said incorporating new Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Complete Streets guidelines into design plans has contributed to the city completing less than half of its pavement preservation goal. St. Petersburg’s continued growth has also contributed to the problem.

Construction, particularly tower developments downtown, requires a steady stream of heavy trucks to transport concrete and other materials. Traffic increases alongside the population, and both accelerate road decay.

“We have aging infrastructure, as you know,” Gebler said. “We have a lot of depressions in the roadways. That aging infrastructure is causing those depressions.”

He explained that improper patching will fail within weeks or months. Prayman said storm and wastewater issues are also a culprit.

Residents have submitted over 1,500 requests for roadway repairs since the fiscal year began in October 2024. Many came from low-lying areas that repeatedly flooded during the previous hurricane season.

Prayman said many roads within flood basins were initially built in the 1920s with a lime rock base. “That lime rock immediately dissolves,” he added.

The city now uses crushed concrete as a base. While that requires additional prep work, the material is more resilient to water infiltration.

Officials will now update their pavement condition database annually. Prayman said that would help prioritize projects, mitigate issues and secure Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reimbursements following future storms.

Council Chair Copley Gerdes questioned if the city could receive FEMA assistance for ongoing pavement projects. Prayman said his team must first create a “consistent trend” to prove storm-related damages.

Councilmember Mike Harting suggested “front-loading” project budgets now to decrease the likelihood of roads failing and costs increasing exponentially in the future. Public Works Administrator Claude Tankersley said it would cost the city about $18 million annually to meet its preservation goal.

“We’re doing everything the right way, but we’re just missing that one piece,” Gebler said. “And right now, that’s the funding.”