SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- By its own research, San Jose admits its streets are crumbling and are among the worst in the Bay Area.
It's the result of years of deferred maintenance due to tight budgets, but now the city is learning that the price to repair city streets has doubled.
The city's own auditor says the cost to repair decaying streets has doubled in the past five years, and it'll climb to $1 billion in the next five years unless something is done now.
Drivers say they already know it, San Jose's streets are in the worst condition of any city in Silicon Valley.
"One time I hit a bump, it felt like it was going to knock off my bumper, or something like that," Roan Nicholson, a San Jose resident said. "I think they definitely need to do something about it."
The roads are deteriorating faster than they're getting fixed. Barely four out of 10 streets in San Jose got any maintenance at all in the past decade. It's estimated it will take $500 million to bring all streets up to good condition. That's the combined budgets for the city's police and fire departments and for its libraries.
"We should be spending about $100 million a year to maintain our streets, given the age that they're at and just the number of streets that we have, over 2,400 miles," Hans Larsen, San Jose transportation director, said.
Budget constraints in recent years forced the city to maintain only the most heavily used streets. Drivers aren't happy, nor are taxpayers.
"They wouldn't have to fix them if they were crumbling if they maintained them in the first place," San Jose resident Jeff Rumbaugh said. "What they're doing is not maintaining anything. They might just throw a patch over it, but that's not going to last."
The city council's transportation committee is starting to explore what to do and it might include asking voters to raise taxes or to approve a bond measure to fix crumbling streets. Council member Ash Kalra chairs the transportation committee.
"We have to figure out how we're going to prioritize our spending in the years to come, and if there are other avenues to get funding, whether it's state or federal funds, or even potentially a bond measure, but those are all items we've going to have to discuss," Kalra said.
The state is projecting gas tax revenue next year will fall 20 percent as a result of greater fuel efficiency. Cities use some of that money to help with road repairs.