My Dad was always reminding me to change the oil in my car to keep the value in my investment. Neither of us wanted to pay for a car again soon. The lesson: Deferring maintenance increases costs over time.

The same is true for Bend’s streets.

Every time I hit a pothole I think about this. The city of Bend has a street pavement problem. Of our 830 or so lane miles to maintain, a lot of them are in bad shape – cracked, potholed, rutted. Today the city of Bend has an $80 million backlog of road repairs. What to do?

Right now, the city does not have enough money on hand to fix everything. Yet, putting pavement preservation off for a later day isn’t wise. The longer these roads are ignored, the more expensive they become to fix.

“Typically, pavements perform well under loads until a particular point in their life spans, at which time they deteriorate precipitously and rapidly to failure. Experience shows that spending $1 on pavement preservation before that point eliminates or delays spending $6 to $10 dollars on future rehabilitation or reconstruction costs,” according to a 2005 report distributed by the Federal Highway Administration.

One of the City Council’s goals is to “develop a transportation funding strategy for transit and street maintenance.” I am looking for a smart investment of taxpayer dollars that looks at street maintenance through a broader lens. How does the city maintain our infrastructure projects and achieve the best return on investment?

The majority of our street maintenance funding comes from gas tax revenues, with some additional funding from property taxes, garbage franchise fees and federal funding. But gas tax revenue is declining due to inflation, rising fuel efficiency and reduced driving habits. Typically, jurisdictions look at increasing gas taxes and adding miscellaneous types of fees when funds run short.

But I want all of us to think about street maintenance funding in new ways, too. Can we extend the life of our streets? Is there another solution to clogged arterials besides building — and then maintaining — more streets?

Some great examples today include the Ride the River Shuttle for river floaters and Mt. Bachelor’s shuttle for skiers and snowboarders. Let’s explore more ideas that could move people where they want to go and relieve them from navigating clogged streets and becoming frustrated at limited parking options. What about a regular summertime shuttle through the Old Mill, downtown and riverfront parks?

I also want to explore the idea of a bond measure that connects transit funding and street maintenance. Current thinking in some cities suggests that functional bus and rail services could avert some street maintenance and construction expenses.

I’d like various planning efforts — transportation and land-use studies and scenarios — to consider the costs and benefits of different transportation options and land-use patterns that increase transit ridership and help preserve our streets.

The Urban Growth Boundary planning process is one example of how land-use and transportation planning relates to creating more efficient transportation systems that we as a community can afford. As we inevitably become a more dense, urban-like community, we should be able to choose how to get around more easily and safely without always jumping into a car, and extend the life of our community investment.

I write this letter as a call to action: Let’s not limit this discussion just to “How can we get more money?” Let’s consider lots of ideas that reduce the costs of caring for roads.

Write to your city councilors and join the conversation on BendVoice.org. Let’s keep thinking how to make your Bend better.

— Sally Russell is a Bend city councilor.