Roads, roads, roads…

It will come as no surprise that one of the top issues for residents of the First District is – of course – roads! The last year of shelter-in-place may have meant that we traveled less around the county, but it also caused us to fixate more than ever on our immediate surroundings. On rare drives to the market, bike rides to pick up take-out from our favorite local restaurant, and evening walks around our neighborhood, we wondered – how do we improve our roads?  

On May 25 the Board of Supervisors authorized $39,951,890 for road maintenance and paving projects during the 2022 and 2023 construction seasons. These projects constitute work on 43.44 total miles of roads in the unincorporated county, including, in the First District, sections of Cherry, Craig, Riverside, and Verano in the Springs, among others.

The County paves roads through our Transportation and Public Works (TPW) department. State and federal gas taxes are the primary funding sources for roads, and the amount of funding the county receives is based on the number of road miles it maintains, as well as the number of vehicles registered. 

Sonoma County has a high number of road miles in proportion to a relatively low number of registered vehicles. While Sonoma County receives less funding for maintenance per road mile than most counties in the State, and the least funding in the Bay Area, your Board of Supervisors dedicates more discretionary General Fund money towards roads than nearly every other county in the state to help close the gap. 

Last fall, when we surveyed residents as to how they would like to see the PG&E settlement funding allocated, roads received overwhelming support. In December, the Board allocated $30 million in PG&E funds for the worst roads impacted by the 2017 fires and the debris removal work, including many roads in the Glen Ellen and Kenwood area, Bennett Ridge, Sonoma Valley (including Trinity, Cavedale and Lovall Valley), and elsewhere in the burn zones of 2017. Planning for repaving these 2017 fire damaged roads will be undertaken along with the 22/23 Pavement Preservation Project process, and work should begin in 2022. 

Also authorized is an additional $20 million in PG&E settlement funds for roads, and to begin design work for the Donald Street gap along Highway 12. To justify using the PG&E settlement funding, it was very important to me that the projects in some way address disaster preparedness, resiliency, and public safety.

Taken all together, the May votes mean the board has committed nearly $60 million towards Sonoma County infrastructure in the coming years, and I am incredibly proud of this investment, so desperately needed in our community. 

I also want to highlight that the Boyes Bridge is on schedule to reopen in July! I know the completion of this project has been long awaited in the community, and I can’t wait for you all to take a drive, stroll, or bike ride across it very soon.

Improving and maintaining the many miles of roads in Sonoma County is, no doubt, a slow, expensive process. While we have an incredible team in our Department of Transportation & Public Works, we can’t get to everything every year. We have a lot of projects in the works, and we will get there.