Napa County residents don’t have to drive far to find the worst roads in the Bay Area. They drive them every day.

Local pavement conditions are about the worst in the Bay Area, according to the latest annual report of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

Among 96 cities, Napa ranked 91st, with St. Helena and Calistoga also among the bottom 13. Among the nine Bay Area counties, Napa County had the lowest pavement score.

The MTC puts roads in Napa County, Napa, St. Helena and Calistoga in the “at risk” category, and all four jurisdictions received lower scores than they did in 2006.

The best local streets were to be found in American Canyon, a new city with relatively new roads, which got a “good” rating. Yountville scored a notch down, qualifying as “fair.”

Low-scoring streets have gone too long without timely preventive maintenance, the MTC said. Reconstructing pavement will ultimately cost five to 10 times more than it would if these roadways had been kept in good condition, the regional agency said.

“We have a mess here that will not be easy to fix,” Napa Councilman Jim Krider said Wednesday. “In order to turn this around we’re going to need money.”

Local elected officials, with private industry backing, tried to pass a countywide half-cent sales tax in June, 2006, to boost street maintenance and tackle south county highway projects. Voters rejected Measure H, which would have raised $537 million over 30 years. The measure got 53 percent voter approval, but needed two-thirds.

This could be the year that the Napa Country Transportation and Planning Agency tries again, but first many questions need to be answered, said Krider, who sits on the NCTPA board.

“With the economy being what it is right now, I’m not sure anybody is interested in a tax right now,” Krider said. The Napa City Council will need to weigh the advantages of a city-only transportation tax versus the merits of a countywide effort, he said.

Napa Mayor Jill Techel, another NCTPA board member, said it’s too early to determine whether a transportation tax should be put to voters in 2008.

Measure H would have raised substantial amounts to widen Jamieson Canyon Road/Highway 12 and build two south county highway interchanges, Techel noted. Any future tax might better deal only with local streets, she said.

The $139 million widening of Jamieson Canyon is proceeding despite the defeat of Measure H. Caltrans will use $53 million from Napa and Solano counties, $74 million in state congestion relief bonds passed by voters a year ago and $12 million in Caltrans funds.

This spring the NCTPA’s board of directors, composed of local elected officials, is likely to discuss sponsoring another transportation sales tax for the November ballot, said Jim Leddy, NCTPA’s executive director.

A local transportation tax is needed, but it’s an open question if this is the year to try for one, Leddy said Wednesday. Napa and Solano are the only Bay Area counties without a local transportation sales tax, he said.

Napa County Supervisor Bill Dodd, who chairs the MTC, agreed that worries about the economy may mean November is not the best time to try for a sales tax. But the longer local streets and roads go without adequate maintenance, he said, the more the cost of repair will grow.

Unincorporated Napa County should be spending nearly $10 million a year on road repair, but can only afford to spend less than $2 million, Dodd said.

Leon Garcia, mayor of American Canyon, said his city is fortunate to have so many new roads, but cannot keep up with maintenance in its older neighborhoods.

The NCTPA will continue to sponsor public presentations by transportation experts in coming months, Leddy said. Speakers will talk about how to design a comprehensive transportation system that makes sense for Napa County, he said.