Healdsburg faces impending roundabout construction, closures

Construction of a traffic roundabout and replacement of aging water and sewer lines at the gateway to downtown Healdsburg promise to cause disruption for both motorists and businesses just as the busy summer tourist season gets going.

In a little more than four weeks, crews are expected to start digging up the prominent five-way intersection for a job estimated to take as long as seven months, or as many as 16 months, depending on whether the busy crossroads is shut down completely or vehicles are allowed through on a limited basis as work progresses.

“Admittedly, it doesn’t matter which way we do it. Someone is going to be inconvenienced, I guarantee,” Public Works Director Brent Salmi said.

Several community meetings to explain the project are set for next week before the City Council holds a public hearing on April 18, awards the approximate $10 ?million construction contract and decides which timetable to pursue.

The long-anticipated roundabout that will be built where Healdsburg Avenue, Mill Street and Vine Street converge with the railroad tracks is seen as a more efficient way to handle motor vehicles and pedestrian traffic at the sometimes befuddling intersection. But the work also includes major infrastructure improvements, like rebuilding a badly-deteriorated, near century-old culvert that funnels Foss Creek under the road; clearing a decrepit, abandoned gas station; installing new water and sewer pipes; and under-grounding electrical and other utility lines. The railroad tracks and ties will also be upgraded, along with installing signals and safety gates for eventual SMART train service.

Shutting down the intersection entirely so the work starting May 9 can be completed faster - by Nov. 24 - will save more than $400,000, according to Salmi. But it also will create highly circuitous traffic detours and make it harder to reach some downtown businesses.

The other option would allow vehicles to continue through the five-way intersection during much of the construction by using rotating stop controls, but it adds to the cost. It’s estimated to extend the completion date until Sept. 1, 2017, but the longer time frame would maintain drive-by access to all businesses.

City Council members as well as business owners are split over which option to pursue.

Janet Browning, who owns Shoffeitt’s antiques collective on Healdsburg Avenue, just north of the five-way intersection, said closing it entirely “will hurt us and everybody.”

“We’ve really been concerned about it,” she said, adding that some of her 40 vendors in the building will have trouble paying rent if the intersection is closed down and customers fall off.

“We will lose a lot of meanderers - people who come up and down (Healdsburg Avenue),” Browning said of impulse shoppers attracted to the eclectic mix of art, antiques, clothing, jewelery and furniture.

But Gino Bellagio, owner of an auto body paint and glass shop right next to the intersection, was of the opposite mind. “Do it. Get it done. I don’t want two years to do it. If you have to close it down, close it down.”

Next door at the Valdez wine tasting room, Vice President Adelina Valdez agreed.

“I prefer to have it done in seven months, than 16 months,” she said, adding that people will still find their way to her tasting room.

Some business owners said they need to hear more details.

Spoke Folk Cyclery owner Liz Peacock worried that closing the five-way intersection will mean losing first-time customers who come that way to town to rent bikes for the day or weekend.

But, she added, “as long as there’s good signage, I hope there won’t be too much confusion.”

If the intersection is closed entirely, city officials acknowledge it will lead to major changes in traffic routes.

Vehicles coming off the freeway at the Central Healdsburg exit would no longer be able to access the plaza and downtown by heading north the usual way on Healdsburg Avenue. Instead, city officials said they would be routed south on Healdsburg Avenue toward the Russian River and Front Street to make their way downtown, essentially via side streets.

And, a greater number of northbound 101 vehicles would likely be exiting at Dry Creek Road to get to Westside Road by using Kinley Drive to double back south.

In separate interviews, two council members said they favored getting the work done as soon as possible, despite the major detours it would necessitate.

“My preference at this point would be to fast track it,” Councilman Eric Ziedrich said Tuesday. “It’s going to have a significant negative impact, we know that. At this point, I think we swallow the poison pill and translate to seven months.”

Councilman Shaun McCaffery agreed that it’s better to have a relatively short period of construction with complete closure of the street, “versus a longer, more protracted construction zone with traffic trickling through it.”

“I spoke with a number of business people and the consensus I’m seeing is to rip the Band-aid off, get it over with and have it open by December,” he said.

But both council members Gary Plass and Brigitte Mansell were leaning toward a longer construction timeline that would allow partial traffic flow through the intersection.

“Logically, it looks like it might be better to take more time, so there is more flow to the downtown,” Plass said.

“It will be a pain no matter what,” Mansell said. “My view is to go for the long haul and don’t close (the intersection). It will be too big a burden for downtown business.”

Mayor Tom Chambers said it would be nice to get the project done sooner rather than later, but “if it’s an imposition on business (that) they can’t stand, I would definitely rethink. I’m pretty open at this point.”

Council members not only want to hear more from the community, business owners said they need to hear more details before deciding which option is best.

A community open house and information session is set for 5 p.m. April 14 at City Hall, 401 Grove St.

Circe Sher, a principal owner of the Healdsburg Hotel and h2 Hotel, initially said her inclination would be to keep the five-way intersection open for business convenience, rather than shutting it entirely to speed up completion of the project.

But in a follow-up email, she said she is undecided which option is preferable. “Factors which would affect my decision are the planned routing, hours of construction, and the possible mitigations to help the businesses in the affected area,” she said.

Carla Howell, executive director of the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce, favors fast tracking the project despite requiring shutting the five-way intersection entirely.

“I feel the sooner we get it over with the better. It’s like childbirth. It hurts a lot and you want it over,” she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 ?or clark.mason@press?democrat.com. On Twitter @clarkmas.