Lengthy reconstruction of Santa Rosa’s Fulton Road frustrates residents as crews start anew on repairs

The sounds of road construction echo inside Tim Polk’s northwest Santa Rosa home most early mornings.

The multimillion-dollar project on a mile-long stretch of nearby Fulton Road was expected to help address congestion between Piner and Guerneville roads as well as enhance pedestrian and bike facilities.

For Santa Rosa officials, the project also was an opportunity to test a new road-building technique expected to extend the life of the surface and cut down on long-term maintenance.

Polk and his fellow neighbors initially welcomed the plans.

But nearly two years since construction began, some residents are wondering how much longer it will take to complete.

Those concerns have taken on a new urgency in recent weeks after residents reported construction crews tearing out much of the concrete recently laid and starting anew.

“This is an area that did need to be updated and upgraded, but everyone wants to know when this is going to be done,” said Polk, who lives just north of Piner High School on Quail Hollow Drive.

“Initially we were thrilled that they were going to widen the lanes and make it nice. However, the execution has been terrible. It’s noisy and it’s dangerous and it’s really impacted a lot of people, especially the Piner High folks.”

City officials say the ongoing work is aimed at correcting issues tied to the installation of a special type of material known as roller compacted concrete that led to uneven surfaces — at the expense of the contractors, Ghilotti Bros. and its partner Vanguard Construction, which was tasked with the pavement work.

The issues are pervasive, with about 80% of the 10,000 concrete panels installed needing to be repaired or replaced, city spokesperson Jaime Smedes told The Press Democrat.

Pavement work is expected to continue over the next few weeks and the project is on schedule to be completed by summer, according to the city.

But frustration is mounting in the surrounding neighborhoods, which encompass one of the fastest growing areas of Santa Rosa, as well as among motorists who daily use the busy north-south thoroughfare leading from Highway 12 to the county airport.

Segments of intersecting Fulton and Piner roads have regularly been ranked by drivers and readers in recent years as among the worst citywide for deteriorating surfaces, including cracks and potholes.

Even after repairs to other sections of Fulton Road more than two years ago, one reader told The Press Democrat it felt like the area had been forgotten.

Project meant to address area needs

That’s not the case, stressed Santa Rosa Council member Jeff Okrepkie, who represents the city’s northwest in District 6.

He said he understands residents’ frustration and asked for patience as the latest Fulton Road project nears the finish line.

Addressing traffic on the critical westside corridor — connecting residential neighborhoods, Piner High School and several retail centers — was crucial but the project was a large undertaking, he said.

“I understand that anything as large as the Fulton Road widening project in scope and scale and in terms of the importance of that artery in the city and the northwest will attract a lot of eyes,” he said. “I totally understand the urgency that people have with wanting to see this finished. I get it.”

Work on the $15.6 million project began in June 2022 and was expected to take 18 to 24 months. It’s one of dozens of major road projects the city has advanced after many capital projects were put off for years in the wake of the 2017 firestorm and other emergencies, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

Once complete, the road will feature two lanes in each direction to better accommodate future traffic, a center-turn lane and new center medians, bike lanes in each direction, wider sidewalks and a new crosswalk signal south of Piner High School.

Storm drainage improvements, new landscaping and streetlights also are planned.

The city announced on the project website in mid-December that crews would be inspecting the roadway for uneven surfaces, ridges and indentations over the next few weeks and grinding down rough pavement and repairing cracks and other irregularities.

Second attempt to use technique

But it appears concerns about the pavement were raised by the city before the final phase.

Initial pavement work was anticipated to start in early 2023 but was delayed because of the winter storms, and the project faced additional delays because of equipment and technical issues. Paving began in May.

Smedes, the city spokesperson, said city inspectors found the contractor’s installation of the concrete did not meet specifications in the city’s contract shortly after paving started.

City inspectors have since analyzed each of the roughly 10,000 concrete panels installed and found defects on the surface like delamination, raveling and depressions that could have resulted in costly ongoing maintenance, she said.

Some panels were installed at an angle that didn’t allow for water to drain from the roadway, she said.

City officials notified Vanguard of their concerns and the contractor assured the city the final product would be in compliance, Smedes said.

Vanguard was required to replace the initial work after failing to correct the issues, she said.

Roller compacted concrete is more commonly found in dams and airport runways. While it’s made of the same ingredients as conventional concrete, it’s a drier mix able to be compacted by large vibrating rollers rather than by hand or other smaller machinery.

City officials have eyed the use of roller compacted concrete, used increasingly in the Midwest and southern United States, to extend the lifespan of the city’s road network. Closer to home, Roseville, outside of Sacramento, has paved several streets using roller compacted concrete, but Santa Rosa would be the first in the Bay Area to use the technique with the Fulton project.

It’s more durable and cost effective than traditional asphalt — saving the city an estimated $1 million in project costs and additional investments in future maintenance — and it can be driven on fairly quickly after being installed, ideal for busy roads like Fulton.

The city first proposed using roller compacted concrete to reconstruct roughly three-quarters of a mile of Fulton Road between West Third Street and Occidental a few years back.

That project was postponed in August 2019 just as it was expected to get underway with a project supervisor at the time saying the mix was too weak to withstand the stress of daily trips and didn’t meet the city’s standards.

Santa Rosa ultimately abandoned the idea and opted on that segment to use Portland cement concrete, which is more commonly used for road projects across California.

The project was completed in November 2019.

What led to the problems in the latest project is unclear.

Assistant City Manager Jason Nutt, who served as the city’s longtime public works director, said the technique has been successfully used in other parts of the country. He wasn’t sure if challenges to install the concrete locally were related to the soil or weather or the application.

Casey Wood, a project manager with San Rafael-based Ghilotti Bros., said it was also unclear what led to the issues but said Vanguard was responsible for the paving work. He referred questions to Vanguard project manager Tom Gorman, who didn’t respond to requests for additional information.

Vanguard is a Livermore-based general contractor specializing in concrete construction and has worked on various public highway projects, including the Highway 101 realignment in Petaluma.

Wood said he didn’t have an immediate estimate of how much the additional work cost but said Ghilotti and Vanguard are covering those costs.

Nutt said the city and contractors have worked together to address the issues and Ghilotti and Vanguard have been cooperative. The project is on time and on budget and the city is not considering any additional action against the contractors.

Final work slated for coming weeks

The latest issues have raised questions about whether the use of roller compacted concrete is a viable option for future road projects, despite the touted benefits.

Nutt said it was premature to discount its use in the future.

“This particular project has proven challenging,” he said. “The final product is likely going to be fine, but it’s been long to get there.”

He said as the technique is perfected and rolled out more widely, the city could evaluate its use again.

Norm Dickenson, who lives west of Fulton Road off Piner, said the road was “really rough” after the pavement was initially laid and workers have been out sawing up parts of the pavement and pouring new concrete.

A retired project manager, Dickeson said it was clear something “went wrong here.”

The work has impacted traffic and led to extended partial closures of the roadway that have limited access to nearby businesses and homes, sometimes forcing him to wind his way through adjacent neighborhoods to get to where he’s headed, he said.

Construction workers in the last two months have been systematically cutting into and removing substantial portions of the pavement and making repairs to the inside lanes of Fulton Road.

That work was completed in early March and crews have now moved to the outside lanes.

Current work includes removing and replacing portions of the southbound lanes of Fulton between Piner and Jenes Lane and crews will work their way south toward Guerneville Road.

Damaged or nonconforming panels are being replaced with Portland cement concrete, the alternative building material, Smedes said.

Repairs have required some overnight and weekend work to ensure the project is delivered on time, and recent rain also has delayed some of the work. Smedes said the project is expected to be completed within the timeline outlined in the contract.

Once pavement repairs are complete, workers will repave the intersections of Fulton Road and Guerneville and Fulton and Piner, complete construction of the median islands and re-stripe the roadway.

Smaller work includes installation of bus shelters and signs.

The final stage of the project can’t come soon enough for Fulton Road neighbors, for whom the road segment has been a noisy, clogged quagmire during construction.

“It shouldn’t take two years to lay one mile of concrete,” said Polk, the Quail Hollow resident. “I understand they’re widening lanes and making it nice, but I think everybody will be relieved when it’s done.”

You can reach Staff Writer Paulina Pineda at 707-521-5268 or paulina.pineda@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @paulinapineda22.