Sonoma County drivers should brace for a summer of detours and construction zones as officials from the Department of Public Infrastructure have announced a major road resurfacing program set to kick off, paving nearly 30 miles across the region's 45 county-maintained roads. In what the county board chair calls the largest single-year array of construction projects in the area, road users are being told to plan their routes, adhere to detour signage, and slow their roll near work crews to ensure everyone's safety. Residents living near the impending work sites can expect advance notice from county contractors.
In a statement obtained by Sonoma County's website, Supervisor David Rabbitt stressed the importance of these infrastructure improvements for the regional economy, mentioning, “This investment in local roads is essential to our regional economic vitality as our road system is used by the majority of our population.” Aside from general road paving, county teams will be handling various additional tasks, which include chopping down troublesome vegetation and problematic trees, constructing new pedestrian walkways, repairing landslide damages along critical routes, and a vital seismic retrofit on a bridge over the Russian River necessary for the safety of countless motorists.
Fiscal backing for the projects amasses to $67 million, pooled from different avenues like County General Funds, PG&E Settlement funds, federal money through the Highway Bridge Program, local proceeds from the Sonoma County Transportation Authority, and relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency due to disaster reimbursement. Since 2012, the Board of Supervisors has poured over $270 million into 546 miles of road improvements, making it the highest contributor in the state in discretionary spending for roads, a significant portion of the largest county-maintained road network in the Bay Area. The disparity in state gas tax funding, swayed by the number of vehicle registrations instead of road size, puts rural counties at an unfair advantage. Thus, local measures and taxes, such as L transient occupancy and M sales taxes, supplement county road funds.
Passengers and locals can expect to navigate around work on streets like Lowell Avenue, B Street, C Street, and multiple other thoroughfares part of this massive operation; a full list of impacted roads and a detailed map are available on the county's website for those planning their commutes. Sonoma County has a submission system for residents to suggest road projects for future execution and provides online non-emergency road requests for maintenance oversight.
