Delayed by Kincade fire, Santa Rosa repaving section of Fulton Road, disrupting traffic

After problems with a special type of concrete delayed a $4 million road project, Santa Rosa will rebuild a section of Fulton Road with more traditional material and officials maintain hopes of finishing the work before heavy winter rains begin.

Repaving began Friday - following a delay due to the Kincade fire - and is expected to continue on both southbound lanes of Fulton Road between West Third Street and Occidental Road through Wednesday. Once those lanes are finished, crews will close and rebuild the road’s northbound side.

Officials hope to complete the paving project by Nov. 23, weather permitting.

The project initially called for allowing for at least one lane of traffic to be open in each direction at a given time. Closing both lanes in each direction simultaneously will allow crews to finish the work faster, said Erich Rauber, a city engineer.

“Regardless of how traffic is routed, the work will result in increased traffic congestion,” Rauber said in an email. “Closing Fulton Road to southbound traffic then northbound traffic will allow the work to be performed more quickly and thus allow traffic conditions to return to normal more quickly.”

Southbound traffic approaching West Third Street on Fulton Road will be detoured onto Stony Point Road, city officials said in a prepared statement.

The work began in late October, but the stretch of northwest Santa Rosa road was subject to evacuation orders imposed due to the Kincade fire. City officials decided to put the project on hold and install temporary ramps to allow evacuees to use southbound Fulton Road to leave town.

The city decided to use a standard concrete mix instead the special roller-compacted concrete it touted earlier in the year as a durable and cost-effective alternative to asphalt. The initial plan, which would have yielded one of the first roads in the Bay Area to use the special concrete, was scrapped after several failed attempts to create a batch strong enough to withstand the stress of daily road traffic - 24,000 vehicles daily, according to city data.

Now, Fulton Road’s new pavement will be made of Portland cement concrete, which has been commonly used for road projects across California for decades and recently the city used it on northeast Santa Rosa’s Austin Way, Rauber said.

City transportation officials announced delays to the Fulton Road project in late August without much explanation or a new schedule.

In early September, a project superintendent told the Press Democrat that attempts to mix the roller-compacted concrete had turned out material too weak for the city’s standards.

You can reach Staff Writer Will Schmitt at 707-521-5207 or will.schmitt@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @wsreports.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that paving work on the southbound stretch of Fulton Road is expected to continue through Wednesday.