Two major projects currently are taking place on Soda Bay Road, including a stimulus-funded overlay project and storm damage repair, according to Road Superintendent Steve Stangland.
The $800,000 overlay project started a few weeks ago and is set to wrap up next week, Stangland said.
Thanks to highly competitive bids, the county was able to extend the project – which originally was supposed to reach down Highway 281 to just past Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa – all the way to the Riviera West entrance, Stangland said.
Also under way is a storm damage repair project in the area of Ferndale Resort on Soda Bay Road. Stangland said that project should wrap up this week.
A slide necessitated the repairs. Stangland explained that a gravity wall made of huge blocks is being installed to repair the slide, along with associated earth work at a total cost of about $340,000.
Another project set to start this summer involves realignment of a portion of Soda Bay Road from Big Valley Road to Mission Rancheria Road, which the Big Valley Rancheria and the Bureau of Indian Affairs are paying for and for which Stangland didn't have a cost figure immediately available.
“We're still trying to get the storm damage projects out,” said Stangland.
He explained that a department list of storm damage projects, compiled in 2006, had 125 projects at a total cost of just over $12 million.
Stangland said the projects came from two declared disasters – a period of stormy weather in December 2005 and January 2006, and another period of extended rain this past February.
“That's when a lot of things started showing up,” he said.
The projects range in size from as little as $1,000 of repair all the way up to a $3.5 million project on Morgan Valley Road near Lower Lake, which requires fixing a 160-lineal-foot slipout on the road's downhill side, Stangland said.
That latter project will get done, but Stangland isn't sure of the time frame, as it's still in a final approval process with the federal government, which is providing funding.
“We're going to do all of them,” Stangland said of the 125 projects.
Despite some setbacks and deadline adjustments, the road division is down to about the last 20 projects on the list. “We hope to have them all done by the summer of 2011,” Stangland said.
A $900,000 storm damage repair project on Sulphur Bank Road in Clearlake Oaks was recently completed, and another $86,000 project on Scotts Valley Road is set to start soon, Stangland said.
Other storm-related projects on the drawing board include $100,000 in repairs on Highland Springs Road and $200,000 for culvert replacement and slide repairs on Elk Mountain Road toward Lake Pillsbury, he said.
This summer another stimulus project will take place, this time on Lakeshore Boulevard in north Lakeport, Stangland said. Contractor North Bay Construction will widen the road shoulders and install bike lanes.
So far, even with all the projects going, the road division is able to get the asphalt it needs, which wasn't the case two summers ago when there was a run on available asphalt in the area, he said.
“We're optimistic,” Stangland added.
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