Santa Rosa street closed until January

<p>Fresno Avenue between Northpoint Parkway and Maitland Avenue in Santa Rosa is closed through early January to accommodate wood ramps that will funnel tiger salamanders — if there are any — off a future park site and toward vernal pools across the street.</p><p>The project is part of Santa Rosa’s effort to develop Airfield Neighborhood Park in a southwest area residential subdivision where neighbors have been awaiting a playground for years.</p><p> Fresno Avenue will be closed and local traffic will face a two-block detour until completion of the project, scheduled for early January, public works department officials said.</p><p>City crews began erecting ramps and fencing on Wednesday.</p><p>If things go according to plan, the endangered amphibians would leave their burrows during heavy rain and migrate to the moisture of vernal pools. A silt barrier surrounds the park and is designed to force tiger salamanders onto the ramps crossing Fresno Avenue.</p><p>The city has created a Web page for information at srcity.org/airfieldpark.</p><p>— Bleys W. Rose</p>