Transportation projects across Sonoma County receive $67 million in funding

Nearly 30 road and transportation projects across Sonoma County are receiving funding that adds up to more than $60 million.

The Sonoma County Transportation Authority has announced it will distribute about $67 million to 29 projects in various stages of execution. They range from sidewalk and crosswalk improvements to trail and bus programs.

“Local governments often have transportation projects ready to go that will directly benefit their residents but are lacking the funds to get started,” Lynda Hopkins, the SCTA vice chair and Sonoma County supervisor said in the Feb. 21 news release announcing the funds. “SCTA has leveraged several major grants and funding sources that communities often have difficulty accessing on their own to get these improvements completed.”

Sonoma County projects which got funding

Funding sources include a sales tax measure voters approved in 2004 for road projects. A 20-year extension, the Go Sonoma Transportation Sales Tax, was approved in 2020.

The SCTA received funding requests for 69 projects adding up to $239 million before narrowing down the list of recipients.

They include Cloverdale, Cotati, Healdsburg, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Sonoma, Sonoma County, Windsor, Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit and Santa Rosa City Bus.

The single largest contribution, about $5 million, is going to Santa Rosa for its Highway 101 corridor interchange at Hearn Avenue.

The city describes this project as a reconstruction and widening of the Hearn interchange to improve safety and bicycle and pedestrian crossing. It includes four traffic lanes, left-turn lanes and routes for bicyclists and pedestrians.

Construction may begin as early as October.

Another $3.4 million is going toward a Rohnert Park bicycle and pedestrian crossing across Highway 101 near Copeland Creek.

According to city staff, the crossing would link Copeland Creek Trail, west of the highway, to an area to the east just north of Avram Avenue and Commerce Boulevard.

The project is still going through early stages of approval and construction is several years away.

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi.