2017 Paving Program Moves Forward Despite Storm Damage

Today, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors approved the first contracts of the 2017 Pavement Program, kicking off construction on 54.49 miles of roads this summer, as part of a 97 mile program approved by the Board last year. The remaining 42.51 miles are slated for construction in 2018. When the entire 2017 program is completed the County will have paved approximately 300 miles since the summer of 2013, funded with over $65 Million in General Fund Contributions from the Board of Supervisors.

“We dedicate more General Fund money to roads than any other County in the state of California,” stated Board Chairwoman Shirlee Zane. “We have analyzed the best way to save our roads, and found that, a lot like healthcare, preventative maintenance is less expensive and preserves the life of our roads. We have many miles to go, and our policy and our plans are paying off.”

Due to the unprecedented storms this winter, and the need to coordinate with projects by other Agencies, the 2017 program has been divided into five parts. The contracts for parts one and two were approved for 2017 construction, while parts three, four and five are in progress.

2017 Construction

1. Preservation treatments: chip, fog and slurry seals (40.83 miles)
2. Pavement improvements: overlays, full depth reclamation and cold in-place recycling (13.66)

In Progress

1. Chip Seals to be performed by County Road Maintenance (22.59 miles)
   • County Road Maintenance typically begins preparation for chip seal in the spring. This year, road maintenance crews nimbly pivoted to respond to higher priority storm damage recovery, postponing preparation work for these roads. Road maintenance will begin preparation this summer and complete this work in 2018.
2. Roads requiring redesign due to storm impacts (15.09 miles)
   • Some roads planned for 2017 construction were severely damaged by the storms, and required more intensive pavement treatments than originally planned. The County is diligently responding to the storm damage by re-engineering these roads for bid later this year, and 2018 construction.
3. Roads postponed to the summer of 2018 to follow utility projects (1.07 miles)
   • These roads will be constructed following major utility projects by the City of Rohnert Park and the Sonoma County Water Agency.

“We’ve made great strides and will continue to do so with local dollars and new funding coming in from the state,” shared Second District Supervisor David Rabbitt, who also serves as Chair of the California State Association of Counties Committee on Housing, Land Use and Transportation. “The roads we’ve paved in the last few years held up in the storms, while others greatly deteriorated. The sooner we fix our roads the more resilient we’ll be in the future.”

The contracts approved today total approximately $14 Million, and are funded with the 2016-17 Ongoing General Fund Contribution to pavement preservation and the One-Time General Fund allocation made for pavement preservation efforts in November of 2015. For more information, including a complete list of roads in the 2017 Pavement Program.