• David Tewes •
• Originally published January 2, 2009 at 11:21 p.m., updated January 2, 2009 at 11:21 p.m.

The average condition of Victoria's streets dropped slightly from a year earlier, but a city official said the rating survey doesn't tell the whole story.

"The trend shows that the overall rating has slipped a little bit," said Lynn Short, Victoria's public works director. "We attributed that to the increased construction costs, which reduced the city's buying power."

Those increased construction costs have been linked to the drastic increase in fuel prices in 2008.

"Now that fuel costs are dropping a little bit, we're hoping to see that trend reverse itself," Short said.

Mayor Pro Tem Lewis Neitsch said another factor could have caused the ratings to slip.

Summer interns initially conducted the street ratings, which began in 1994. But two or three years ago full-time employees took over the duty.

"The city officials graded it a little tougher," Neitsch said.

Public Works employees rank Victoria's 311 miles of streets on a scale of zero to 100, with 100 being the best condition.

The 2008 street inventory gave roadways an average rating of 84.16. That's down from 84.22 last year.

The percent of streets listed as very poor or poor increased from about 8 to 9 percent, while the percent of streets listed as fair remained about the same. Streets in the good to very good category dropped from 70 to 69 percent.

The rest of the roadways were not ranked because they are under construction.

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