How Sonoma County spent $40 million on road repairs in 2023

Rushing to beat winter rains, road crews are working to complete repairs on roughly 51 miles of roads under Sonoma County jurisdiction in 2023. The repairs total a little over $40 million.

The county is responsible for a sprawling 1,368 miles of roads in unincorporated areas — one of the largest systems across the Bay Area. Local roads ― typically residential roads that see less traffic compared to main or arterial roads ― make up the bulk of the network, according to the county’s road division website.

Every year the county uses funds allocated to its pavement preservation program to cover the cost of repaving projects. However, the work has grown in recent years as the county chips away at repairing roads damaged in the 2017 wildfires.

“That’s an additional load that’s nearly doubled the roads that we paved both in 2022 and 2023,” said Janice Thompson, the county’s deputy director of transportation and public works.

The county spent $12 million this year to repair 26 of fire damaged roads including Stony Point Road, Old Redwood Highway, Mark West Springs Road and Ida Clayton Road, Thompson said. Fire damage repairs are funded through the county’s settlement with Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

When it comes to average road quality rankings in the Bay Area, Sonoma County has hovered at the bottom of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s pavement condition index, which is scored 0-100. In the latest ranking, for 2022, the county was still at the bottom of the nine-county region, with an overall score of 56, which is categorized as “At Risk.” However that score marks an improvement over the county’s 2020 score of 37, categorized as “poor.”

The county determines which roads to repair during the year using a system that logs each road’s specific pavement condition index, said Thompson. Other factors include traffic volume, surrounding uses and tourism, Thompson said, adding that the Board of Supervisors makes the final decision on which roads to repair.

Outside of fire-damaged routes, the county spent $20 million in 2023 across 24 miles of county road. Roads included in this year’s round of pavement preservation repairs include Blank Road, Lohrman Lane, E. Todd Road, North Fitch Mountain Road, Mark West Station Road, Neeley Road, Mirabel Road and Kennedy Road, according to Thompson.

The county’s roads division also tackled two big projects this year: installing a traffic signal on Stony Point Road at the Roblar Road intersection, and reopening Moscow Road. Both projects were funded independent of the fire damage and pavement preservation programs, Thompson said.

The new traffic light on Stony Point Road has been 10 years in the making, hampered by a lack of funding, Thompson said.

The county coordinated with the Roblar Road Quarry to bridge that obstacle, Thompson added.

The project cost came to about $800,000.

“It really improved the safety at that location so that was a significant project,” said Thompson.

The county is also expected to fully reopen Moscow Road in December, though a reopening date has not yet been set, Thompson said.

Winter storms in recent years have battered the road, which runs west from Monte Rio along the Russian River. It was washed out by a storm in 2019 and winter storms earlier this year caused a landslide, forcing prolonged closures.

Repairs were delayed as the county waited for FEMA to confirm it would reimburse the county for the work, which totaled about $7 million, Thompson said.

“Having multiple damaged sites on a single road was very worrisome for the community but it takes a long time for us to work with FEMA to ensure reimbursement for our project,” Thompson said.

That confirmation from FEMA came earlier this year and allowed construction to begin over the summer.

“Reopening that road at the end of the year is a major accomplishment,” Thompson said.

You can reach Staff Writer Emma Murphy at 707-521-5228 or emma.murphy@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MurphReports.