Sebastopol intersection on upgrade list for past 10 years

The Healdsburg Avenue intersection where a 15-year-old Petaluma girl was struck by a car and seriously injured Friday was identified 10 years ago as one of several Sebastopol intersections in need of improvements for pedestrian safety.

But the search for funding for those improvements and the required certification from state and local jurisdictions has held up many of the projects for years, including the one slated for Healdsburg Avenue-Highway 116.

?We?ve been aware for a long time that Highway 116 is not safe for pedestrians and we?ve been doing whatever we can to make it safer,? said Sebastopol City Councilman Larry Robinson. ?I?m just very, very sorry that we didn?t have the funding to get it done sooner.?

Fifteen-year-old Julia Bertoli, an independent study charter school student, was hanging out with friends when she entered the crosswalk at Healdsburg Avenue at Florence Avenue on the evening of July 3. The teens were planning to attend the fireworks celebration at Analy High School that evening, her family said.

But she was struck by motorist Linda Chilvers, 65, of Forestville. The impact threw Bertoli 35 feet, causing skull, brain and spine injuries.

Bertoli on Thursday remained in a coma at Memorial Hospital in Santa Rosa, where her condition is critical but stable as she also fights off a high fever and pneumonia, the Bertoli family?s attorney, David Rouda, said.

Investigators have not found Chilvers criminally at fault, Sebastopol Police Chief Jeff Weaver said. She was not speeding, under the influence or driving recklessly, he said.

The Police Department is continuing its investigation and has called in additional officers to allow one officer to investigate the collision full time.

Some residents have already come to their own conclusions.

?I used to hold my breath when I saw people cross (Healdsburg Avenue),? said Glen Clements, a nearby resident who was seriously injured in the same crosswalk in October 2006. ?Now I cross my fingers.?

Speeding drivers and a crosswalk that is not readily visible are the intersection?s most dangerous attributes, Clements said.

He began petitioning for a pedestrian crosswalk sign about six months after an elderly driver failed to see him and hit him when he was more than halfway across the street. Clements was thrown about 40 feet. He sustained several broken bones and a brain injury that he said affects his short-term memory.

He directed his requests for a sign to city, county and state officials, he said.

?I contacted them and said it doesn?t matter if a traffic light is there or not, but at least put up signs. That?s the minimum,? he said.

Collision analysis statistics were not available, Weaver said, but the intersection where Clements and Bertoli were hit appears no more or less safe than other crosswalks in Sebastopol.

?This is the fifth major injury collision I can remember off the top of my head (since 2004),? he said. ?They have all been different intersections.?

In addition to the accidents that injured Clements and Bertoli, others occurred at Bodega Avenue and Ragle Road, Gravenstein Highway and Hurlbut Avenue, Healdsburg Avenue and Cleveland Avenue, and Petaluma Avenue and Abbott Avenue.

Of those intersections that were the scenes of major-injury accidents, only the intersection where Bertoli was hit is on the city?s list for improvements.

The project is called Street Smart Sebastopol and began with a community-based design process in 1999. Together with the City Council, a citizens advisory board created and prioritized a list of projects to increase pedestrian safety.

Three projects, one at the town plaza, one at South Main Street and Willow Street and another at Petaluma Avenue and the Joe Rodota Trail, have been completed.

Three more projects, at Healdsburg Avenue and Murphy Avenue, North Main Street and Analy Avenue and Bodega Avenue at High Street, are expected to be completed this year.

The third phase, including the remaining nine projects, includes the intersection of Healdsburg and Florence avenues. Caltrans is reviewing those construction plans, Caltrans spokesman Bob Haus said.

Plans for the intersection call for flashing lights to be installed in the pavement and for sections of sidewalk to extend farther into the street to decrease the distance pedestrians must cross.

The city anticipates completing those projects in late spring or summer of next year, said Susan Kelly, the city?s engineering director.

The priority of projects was determined by the citizens advisory board and the Sebastopol City Council and timeline for the projects was dependent on funding, Kelly said.

?We didn?t have a timeline. We had a wish list,? she said. ?These are the types of projects that we don?t take on unless we have funding for them. We had the wish list but not the funding.?

The total cost for Street Smart Sebastopol pedestrian improvements is $3 million. Funding is coming from Measure M, the Sonoma County transportation tax, along with federal grants and a local sales tax, Kelly said.

A breakout on the costs of specific projects was not available.

Kelly declined to comment on Bertoli?s accident and the specifics of the intersection where it occurred.

Robinson, who has served on the City Council since 1998 and was active with the Street Smart Sebastopol Project at its inception, said he would have liked the project to have gone faster.

?Getting the funding and getting the permission from Caltrans has been very challenging,? he said. ?The county Measure M is providing some funds, but until then we just didn?t have the money.? Measure M was passed in 2004.

Clements hopes the improvements can be made before there is another accident.

?When I hear sirens and screeching it makes my skin crawl a little bit,? he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Laura Norton at 521-5220 or laura.norton@pressdemocrat.com.