Oakland crews pave potholes on steep bike routes following $27M in payouts

Oakland is paving 11 miles of steep bike routes on Grizzly Peak and Skyline boulevards.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Oakland crews were out this week paving over potholes along the city's most dangerous bike routes, as a result of a KTVU investigation detailing how costly it can be for bicyclists when they fly over cracks and dips on the road.

Specifically, crews from the city's Department of Transportation were patching up the winding, hilly route along Grizzly Peak Boulevard at Lomas Cantadas near the Tilden Park Steam Trains.

The city has identified 11 miles of steep, downhill paths on Grizzly Peak and Skyline boulevards, and will be addressing the most high-risk routes this summer.

"It's a great idea," Joe Wilson said. "As a biker, I mean, anything you can do to make it safer."

Wilson said that riding downhill really fast can be dangerous, especially on small tires over rough surfaces.

His friend, Jonah Robinson, added that it becomes even more dangerous when bicyclists have to swerve to avoid potholes as well as swerving to avoid cars.

"I think it's a great thing for the community at large," Robinson said.

$27M in pothole payouts

Last July, KTVU reviewed how much the city of Oakland paid out over a five-year period to those who have suffered injuries due to potholes. The investigation revealed that Oakland has paid the most in pothole lawsuit payouts – $27 million – out of any major city in the Bay Area from 2018 to 2023.

Two of those lawsuits were record-breaking.

One $6.5-million settlement was paid in December 2023 to Bruno Van Schoote, who injured his spine while riding his bike over a crack in the road along MacArthur Boulevard. The other $6.5-million settlement was paid in January to Lynne McDonald, who crashed her bike riding over a pothole on Grizzly Peak Boulevard, causing serious injury and paralysis.

San Jose has paid $8 million. And San Francisco paid out $26 million in the same time period for all street maintenance lawsuits; the city doesn’t parse out what is owed for pothole damages. Both cities have about 1 million people and are roughly three times the size of Oakland.

Fremont, population 250,000, paid out $100,000 during that same period.

Bicyclist rides on Grizzly Peak, where Oakland crews are paving over potholes. May 8, 2025

Oakland responds

The revelation of Oakland's pothole payouts not only showed the financial burden the city has had to pay, but also shined a light on the fact that potholes can be much more serious than someone driving over a bump in the road and ruining a tire. In some cases, potholes have altered people’s lives forever.

"It was a KTVU story talking about the $27 million that we had paid out and lawsuit settlements that came to my attention," Oakland's transportation director Josh Rowan said. "And we really got focused on how we manage that risk. Because, you know, as we flash back over the last year, that $27 million would be nice to be using for other purposes."

He said the transportation department is taking the role of reducing risk "very seriously," and sending crews out to pave with a laser focus on those routes that are the most dangerous.

Bond sales delayed

Oakland voters passed Measure KK in 2016, providing $350 million over a 10-year period to fix the roads. In 2022, voters also passed Measure U, which extends some of the paving funding.

Rowan said that money allowed paving to begin in earnest seven years ago.

Since then, Rowan said 250 miles of road have been paved in Oakland.

In an interview in July 2024, Rowan told KTVU that he hoped to pave 50 or 60 miles of road each year in Oakland.

But on Friday, he said he expects to pave only 20 miles of road in 2025 due to a delayed bond sale, which the city "elected not to sell" this year.

"And so, we're essentially going to miss this paving season," he said.

Rowan said he didn't know why the city decided not to sell Measure U bonds, but he hoped that sale would be sold in November and the paving schedule would be "back on track" for 2026 and 2027.

Rowan said he hoped the entire city of Oakland would be repaved in 18 to 20 years, Rowan said, and then will have to be repaved all over again as cracks in the road appear with age and weather.