FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 18, 2026
Contact:
Rocky Moretti (202) 262-0714 (cell)
Shelley Hammond (404) 993-3744 (cell)
Click here for the full report, infographics and news conference recording.
SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND AREA MOTORISTS LOSE NEARLY $4,700 PER YEAR DRIVING ON ROADS THAT ARE ROUGH, CONGESTED & LACK SOME DESIRABLE SAFETY FEATURES – $100 BILLION STATEWIDE
San Francisco, CA – Roads and bridges that are deteriorated, congested or lack some desirable safety features cost California motorists a total of $100 billion statewide annually – an average of $4,663 per driver in the San Francisco-Oakland urban area – due to higher vehicle operating costs, traffic crashes and congestion-related delays. A lack of adequate investment in transportation and increasing inflation in construction costs could hamper California’s ability to make needed improvements to its transportation network, according to a new report released today by TRIP, a Washington, DC based national transportation research nonprofit.
The TRIP report, “California Transportation by the Numbers: Providing a Modern, Sustainable Transportation System in the Sunshine State,” finds that throughout California, 58 percent of major locally and state-maintained roads are in poor or mediocre condition, five percent of locally and state-maintained bridges (20 feet or more in length) are rated poor/structurally deficient, traffic congestion is choking commuting and commerce, and the state’s traffic fatality rate is higher than a decade ago despite decreasing in recent years. The TRIP report includes statewide and regional pavement and bridge conditions, congestion data, highway safety data, and cost breakdowns for the Los Angeles, Riverside-San Bernardino, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco-Oakland and San Jose urban areas.
Driving on deficient roads in the San Francisco-Oakland area costs the average driver $4,663 per year in the form of extra vehicle operating costs (VOC) as a result of driving on roads in need of repair, lost time and fuel due to congestion-related delays, and the costs of traffic crashes in which the lack of adequate roadway safety features, while not the primary factor, likely were a contributing factor. A breakdown of the costs per motorist in the state’s largest urban areas, along with a statewide total, is below.
The TRIP report finds that 74 percent of major locally and state-maintained roads the San Francisco-Oakland urban area are in poor or mediocre condition, costing the average motorist an additional $1,048 each year in extra vehicle operating costs, including accelerated vehicle depreciation, additional repair costs, and increased fuel consumption and tire wear. Statewide, 58 percent of California’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition.
In the San Francisco-Oakland urban area, eight percent of bridges (115 of 1,374) are rated poor/structurally deficient, with significant deterioration to the bridge deck, supports or other major components. Statewide, five percent of California’s bridges are rated poor/structurally deficient, the tenth highest share in the nation.
Traffic congestion in the San Francisco-Oakland area causes 134 annual hours of delay for the average motorist and costs the average driver $3,326 annually in lost time and wasted fuel. San Francisco-Oakland area drivers waste an average of 30 gallons of fuel per motorist annually due to congestion. Statewide, drivers lose $63 billion annually as a result of lost time and wasted fuel due to traffic congestion. In 2025, the state’s transportation system carried more than 325 billion annual vehicle miles of travel (VMT).
From 2021 to 2025, there were 20,727 traffic fatalities in California, an average of 4,145 fatalities each year. In the last five years (2021-2025), the number of traffic fatalities in California has fallen 20 percent and the state’s traffic fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles of travel (VMT) has fallen 23 percent. But despite recent progress, the number of traffic fatalities in California is still seven percent higher than a decade ago and the traffic fatality rate is 10 percent higher. TRIP estimates that roadway features, while not the primary factor, were likely a contributing factor in approximately one-third of all fatal traffic crashes, resulting in $12.5 billion in economic costs in California in 2024 – an average of $209 per San Francisco-Oakland area driver. The economic costs of traffic crashes include work and household productivity losses, property damage, medical costs, rehabilitation costs, legal and court costs, congestion costs and emergency services.
As improved fuel efficiency and increased use of electric and hybrid vehicles reduce revenue from California’s motor fuel tax—a primary transportation funding source—transportation funding is no longer keeping pace with needs. At the same time, inflation has significantly increased highway construction costs. The Federal Highway Administration’s national highway construction cost index rose 52 percent from early 2022 through the third quarter of 2025, significantly reducing the purchasing power of available transportation dollars.
“It will be critical that California adequately invest in its transportation network in order to provide a system that is smooth, safe and efficient,” said Dave Kearby, TRIP’s executive director. “It is much more cost effective to invest in improving and maintaining the state’s transportation network than to pass along the high costs of a deficient transportation system to drivers”