North county getting big share
North county roads are getting another injection of funding — and asphalt — after the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors signed off on a $28 million funding package last week.
Notably, Sonoma County’s Fourth District, which has many miles of rural roads in the north county, got the second largest share of funding, after the west county’s Fifth District.
The ability to repair and maintain roads is often a function of the economy. Less than 10 years ago, the county issued a report stating that more than 1,000 miles of county roads were in danger of turning into gravel due to lack of funding for basic maintenance.
Now, with revenue soaring, the county is in its second year of heavy investments in roads. “You can’t pave the roads of the future if you can’t pave the roads you have now,” said Fourth District Supervisor James Gore. “If people pay taxes, but things like good roads and clean water aren’t covered, no one wants to hear about your vision for the future,” Gore added.
Gore said that many roads in his district have not received the maintenance they need in a long time, “especially in the far north, around Geyserville and Cloverdale, for probably 30 years.”
“So many of our roads are so bad, that they all qualify for funding and they’re all in need,” Gore said. “We made the best decisions we could based on the pavement condition index, the miles traveled and regional equity.”
Fifth District Supervisor Lynda Hopkins noted that, while many needed repairs are related to last winter’s heavy rains, “we’re going beyond storm damaged roads.”
“Both Lynda and I ran on roads and we’re making the hard decisions it takes to get this network back to where it should be,” Gore said.
North county road repairs include parts of Old Redwood Highway near Windsor, Westside Road, West Soda Rock Lane, West Dry Creek Road, Canyon Road, River Road near Cloverdale and Yoakim Bridge Road, all scheduled for the 2018 and 2019 construction seasons.
