Work to widen Highway 101 gets under way despite deficit

<p>Work to widen Highway 101 from Santa Rosa to Windsor is under way thanks to dry winter weather and despite the uncertainty caused by California's budget problems.</p><p>"The contract was awarded, and as of today, there has been no indication the contract will be suspended," Suzanne Smith, executive director of the Sonoma County Transportation Authority, said Tuesday. "They have their work plan, and they will initiate work."</p><p>O.C. Jones Construction of Berkeley has put up message boards warning of nighttime lane closures to install temporary concrete barriers and remove trees along the route. The overnight work is scheduled from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.</p><p>There are 342 redwood trees along the stretch, between Steele Lane in Santa Rosa and Windsor River Road in Windsor, that will be removed beginning Monday.</p><p>The construction will entail adding car-pool lanes in the median strip of the existing freeway and rebuilding some bridges where the highway crosses over creeks.</p><p>It will be completed in half the time that Caltrans initially allotted because crews will be working nights and weekends, said Randall Husch, Jones' project manager.</p><p>Jones was the low bidder, at $77.8 million, to add the car-pool lanes, a project that is scheduled for completion by late summer or early fall of next year.</p><p>The state's share of the money, $61.3 million, has been allocated and is not in jeopardy of being suspended.</p><p>Until the Legislature resolves what is being forecast as a $40 billion state budget deficit, however, awarding the contract for Sonoma County's next highway project is being held up.</p><p>That project is the replacement of the Wilfred Avenue interchange and freeway widening from Santa Rosa Avenue to the Rohnert Park Expressway.</p><p>Ghilotti Brothers is the low bidder at $38 million, a third less than the $56 million construction cost estimated by Caltrans.</p><p>"It's disappointing and frustrating that with all the talk about jobs and the need for economic stimulus, that we have a project that would create a number of jobs and yet it is being held up and we can't get it started when we want to," Smith said.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob. norberg@pressdemocrat.com.</p>