Fulton Road has been undergoing construction as part of a larger project since June 2022.
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT, 4/10/2023
The closure of a half-mile strip of a southbound lane of Fulton Road for a 12-week construction project will be postponed one week, Santa Rosa officials said.
The portion of the road ― which runs from just south of Piner Road to the driveway of Youth Community Park and past Piner High School ― was expected to close Monday for paving but was pushed to April 18, Santa Rosa city communications director Jaime Smedes said Monday.
The project was postponed because “resources” were not prepped for this week, Smedes said.
The closure is part of a larger project to reconstruct and widen a 1-mile portion of the road between Guerneville and Piner roads. The roller-compacted concrete process will take about 12 weeks to complete.
Each portion of the road that is paved will take about seven days to lay and dry before people can drive over it, Smedes said.
Piner High School Principal Andrea Correia said the school is prepared for the lane closures because it has been impacted by the construction since the beginning of the school year.
The school was informed of the project about five years ago, allowing leaders time to prepare, and to get students and parents informed.
“There’s a quite a bit of extensive work that’s happened in front of Piner,” Correia said.
Some of the work has periodically shut down the two driveways to the school ― though never at the same time ― and has temporarily moved some city bus stops and caused them to take down the school’s sign for sidewalk widening.
The school has suggested parents drop off their kids at different locations ― such as by the back entrance at Peterson Lane or nearby at Apple Tree or Quail Hollow drives ― instead of the main parking lot.
“A lot of our parents are utilizing Peterson Lane,” Correia said. “I feel bad for the community because it’s way more traffic on Peterson Lane and way more cars, and it can probably be very frustrating for them. But people have generally been very patient and very nice about it.”
The people flagging and guiding traffic during certain points in the construction have been helpful at keeping traffic flowing during pickup and drop off, sometimes even moving people through faster than before the construction, Correia said.
She said most people she has talked to recognize the construction is temporary and will yield many different benefits, even relating to school traffic.
“Fulton Road was a two-lane road before,” she said. “So there’s always been a lot of congestion at pick up and drop off.”
“Once it is done, it is going to be great,” Correia added, mentioning the high intensity activated crosswalk signal that will be installed south of Piner High School.
The next section of Fulton Road to be paved will be part of the northbound lane, between Wishing Well Way and Piner High School. Subsequent portions will be paved in sequence as they are prepped, Smedes said.
Santa Rosa residents will be alerted through the project email list when each part will be completed.
After the paving is completed, the road will be striped, new medians will be placed in the center lanes and landscaping will be added. Additional sections of the road closer to Guerneville Road will be paved after a culvert is installed.
Link to article: https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/fulton-road-lane-closure-postponed-ahead-of-weekslong-construction-project/