California Cities Struggle to Repair Roads Amid Costly Mandates

Rigid accessibility requirements drive up costs and limit street maintenance in Los Angeles, San Diego, and other major cities

Apr. 19, 2026 at 5:11pm

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A conceptual editorial illustration depicting a fractured, geometric painting of a pothole-filled city street in overlapping waves of dark grey, asphalt black, and cracked concrete textures, conveying a sense of urban decay and infrastructure neglect.Deteriorating city streets across California reflect the challenges of balancing infrastructure needs, environmental concerns, and accessibility requirements.San Jose Today

California cities are facing a crisis in road maintenance as strict mandates to add bike lanes, bus lanes, crosswalks, and other accessibility features during repaving projects have driven up costs and led many municipalities to simply stop repairing streets altogether. In Los Angeles, only 9 miles of the city's 7,500-mile road network have been repaved in the last year, while San Diego and other cities are also seeing a rapid deterioration of their street infrastructure.

Why it matters

The inability of California cities to maintain their roads is a symptom of larger policy challenges around balancing infrastructure needs, environmental concerns, and accessibility requirements. This issue highlights the tensions between different policy priorities and the unintended consequences that can arise from well-intentioned but inflexible mandates.

The details

In Los Angeles, the passage of Measure HLA in 2024 requires the city to implement its mobility plan - adding bike lanes, bus lanes, crosswalks, and other safety features - whenever a street is repaved. This has turned routine resurfacing jobs into multi-million-dollar projects, leading the city to simply avoid repaving altogether. Similarly, San Diego is considering a "Streets Master Plan" modeled after LA's policy, which would impose similar requirements. Other cities like San Francisco also face red tape and escalating costs that are hampering their ability to maintain roads.

  • In 2024, Los Angeles voters approved Measure HLA, the Healthy Streets LA initiative.
  • Since the passage of Measure HLA, Los Angeles has implemented just 300 feet of the required mobility improvements, about one city block.
  • A 2023 assessment found that 34% of San Diego's roads were classified as "poor," "very poor," "serious," or "failed."

The players

Measure HLA

The Healthy Streets LA initiative approved by Los Angeles voters in 2024, which requires the city to implement its mobility plan - adding bike lanes, bus lanes, crosswalks, and other safety features - whenever a street is repaved.

Streets Master Plan

A policy being considered in San Diego that is modeled after Los Angeles' Healthy Streets LA initiative, which would impose similar requirements for accessibility improvements during road repaving projects.

Shawn Regan

A researcher at the Manhattan Institute who has investigated the reasons behind the deterioration of roads in Los Angeles.

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What they’re saying

“Why would a city in such obvious need of repair stop fixing its roads?”

— Shawn Regan, Researcher, Manhattan Institute

“It's called the Streets Master Plan, and it would require the City to actually add safety and mobility improvements (like crosswalks, bike lanes, bus lanes, and accessible signals) every time they repave a street — instead of just laying new asphalt and calling it a day. Basically: no more 'pave now, maybe fix later.'”

— Streets Master Plan organizer

What’s next

San Diego residents are currently gathering petition signatures to put the Streets Master Plan, modeled after Los Angeles' Healthy Streets LA initiative, on the ballot.

The takeaway

The inability of California cities to maintain their roads highlights the tensions between infrastructure needs, environmental concerns, and accessibility requirements. Rigid mandates that drive up costs and limit road repairs are leading to a rapid deterioration of street conditions across the state, raising questions about how to balance these competing priorities.