Sonoma County expands summer pavement program, including parts of River Road and Bodega Highway

Key stretches of major roads near Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Windsor and Sebastopol are now slated for repairs this year under a nearly ?$5 million effort approved Tuesday by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.

The program, nearly all of which will be funded with federal money, adds more than 5 miles to the ?54-mile pavement initiative the county started last month. It also covers a group of projects approved through the One Bay Area grant program, which distributes federal transportation funds throughout the region.

Supervisors awarded a contract for the 5-mile program to Santa Rosa’s Ghilotti Construction Co. Some streets will receive a restoration of their existing asphalt surface, while others will get a new layer of asphalt placed over the surface of the roadway.

Just 354 miles of the county’s approximately 1,380-mile road system are eligible to receive federal funds for pavement work, according to Susan Klassen, the county’s Transportation and Public Works director. She said the federal government only authorizes funding for roads classified as “major collectors” or arterials.

“When you look at these roads ... what they are is ones that are mostly coming into the cities where the growth would be,” Klassen said of the roads covered by the ?5-mile program. “Coming into Santa Rosa, coming into Petaluma, those kinds of things.”

The newly expanded pavement program includes 2.2 miles of ?D Street from the Marin County line to just south of Petaluma city limits, nearly 2 miles of Bodega Highway from Sexton Road to Sebastopol city limits, more than a half-mile of Windsor River Road from Eastside Road to Windsor city limits and about three-quarters of a mile of River Road from the railroad tracks by Fulton Road to the southbound Highway 101 onramp.

Supervisor David Rabbitt, whose district includes the Petaluma area, was glad to see D Street included in the pavement program, noting that driving on that road gets “noticeably a little louder” after motorists pass the Sonoma County line. He called the additional 5 miles a “stellar” improvement to the original ?54-mile program.

The additional 5-mile pavement improvements should be completed by the end of the year, according to Klassen.

?You can reach Staff Writer J.D. Morris at 707-521-5337 or jd.morris@pressdemocrat.com. ?On Twitter @thejdmorris.