Hot Topics · 09 Infrastructure Citywide

Berkeley adopted infrastructure targets in 2022. The streets still score 56.

Vision 2050 is Berkeley's 30-year plan for its streets, sidewalks, sewers, storm drains, parks and public buildings. Voters called for it in 2018, when Measure R passed with 85 percent, and the Council adopted its framework in 2020. I support it. In 2022 the Council adopted a Program Plan with real targets: a pavement score above 70, the sidewalk repair backlog finished, and the bicycle and pedestrian plans fully built. None of those targets has a year attached. Berkeley's streets scored 56 in 2022 and 56 again in 2024, the latest year published. The Task Force's own report last December gave no progress figures for them.

The Task Force set dates, and the first ones have passed. The Mayor's Vision 2050 Task Force reported to the Council on December 2. It called for an updated Program Plan by spring 2026, an asset management steering committee and the start of condition assessments by July 2026, and asset management for facilities, paving, sidewalks and sewers by July 2027. I can't find the updated plan or a record of the steering committee. On August 25, nine Task Force members asked the City Manager, in print, to set up a working group to carry out what the Council directed in 2020.

Last updated 21 September 2026
On the agendaCouncil, 29 September 2026

Three of the five asks on this page are now in front of the Council

The Mayor has put a referral on the September 29 agenda that would produce the updated plan this page says is missing. It answers Ask 01, and it carries a version of the scorecard in Ask 02. It puts no year on any target, which is Ask 03, and it names no steering committee, which is Ask 04.

How to read these dates

The September 15 agenda was posted on September 3 and is final. The September 29 agenda was posted on September 17 and is final; the item numbers here follow it. Sources: the September 15 Council agenda, the September 29 Council agenda and the Agenda & Rules packet of September 14, which carried the September 29 draft.

Where I stand on Vision 2050

  1. Yes to the plan. Vision 2050 asks the City to run its streets, pipes and buildings the way a careful owner would: know what it owns, know what condition it is in, repair it before it fails, dig up a street once, and double capital spending to about $80 million a year. That is the discipline of my profession, and I would hold the City to it.
  2. Put a year on each target. The 2022 plan says: "The target is to improve Berkeley's streets to a PCI of more than 70." It gives no year. Neither do the targets for sidewalks or for the bicycle and pedestrian plans. Without a year, nobody can say whether the City is on schedule.
  3. Publish the score every year. One page, released with the budget: each target, this year's figure, and last year's. The street score already exists, because the Metropolitan Transportation Commission publishes it every year. The Task Force itself called for annual progress reports.
  4. Finish what the Task Force scheduled. The Task Force says condition assessments have started and the City's asset management software is "fully implemented." The first public product should be the condition of each class of asset: streets, sidewalks, sewers, storm drains and buildings.
  5. Measure U is a separate decision. The City's staff report for the $300 million bond on the November ballot says project prioritization "will continue to be guided by the Vision 2050 framework." Whether to vote for Measure U is its own question, and it gets its own page.
The numbersFrom the City's plans and MTC

Where the plan stands, in five numbers

$2B
Unfunded need, Task Force, 2025
56
Berkeley street score, 2024
70+
Street target adopted in 2022
67
Bay Area street score, 2024
$80M
Yearly capital spending the 2020 plan called for

The street score is the Pavement Condition Index, on a scale of 0 to 100, as a three-year average published by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Berkeley's was 56 in 2022, 56 in 2023 and 56 in 2024, across 449.6 lane-miles. MTC calls that range "At Risk." The 2022 Program Plan defines "good" as 70 to 79 and sets the target above 70.

The need figures don't line up over time. The 2020 Framework counted $882 million in unfunded liabilities. The 2022 Program Plan counted $1.802 billion in needs. The Task Force's 2025 report says about $2 billion. Each was counted for a different purpose, so I don't read them as a trend.

The targetsAdopted July 26, 2022

Six targets, and no dates

The Program Plan the Council adopted on July 26, 2022 sets these outcomes. The quotes are its own words. It plans the work in "approximately three, 10-year phases" and puts no year on any target.

What I'd ask for

Date the targets. Publish the score.

Most of this is reporting. The City already has the plan, the targets, the asset software and the street data. What is missing is a schedule and a page the public can read.

  • Ask 01 · now Post the status of the Program Plan update.

    The Task Force set spring 2026. If the update is done, publish it. If it isn't, publish the new date.

  • Ask 02 · with every budget A one-page Vision 2050 scorecard.

    Each 2022 target, this year's figure and last year's. Start with the street score, which MTC already publishes.

  • Ask 03 · this budget cycle A year on every target, and the money it assumes.

    A pavement score above 70 by what year, at what yearly paving budget. The same for the sidewalk backlog and for the bicycle and pedestrian plans.

  • Ask 04 · the July 2026 milestones Name the steering committee. Publish the assessment schedule.

    The Task Force set both for July 2026. In August, nine of its members asked for a working group to carry the plan forward. A published roster and schedule would answer them.

  • Ask 05 · every year Capital spending against the 2020 line.

    The Framework called for doubling capital spending to about $80 million a year. Publish what the City has actually spent on capital projects each year since 2020.

The timeline

From ballot measure to plan, as scheduled

What I couldn't verifyUnverified

Five things I haven't confirmed

Look it up

Don't take my word for it

Everything on this page is sourced to a public document or named account. If you think I've read one of them wrong, tell me and I'll correct the page.

Primary documents

Other accounts

Tell me where I'm wrong More Hot Topics