We will be holding a public meeting on Thursday, August 23, at the Bennett Valley Guild Hall, 4145 Grange Road, at 7 PM to explore possible options to increase safety on our local roads. Supervisor Susan Gorin, California Highway Patrol Area Captain Michael Palacio, and a representative from the Sonoma County Transportation and Public Works Department will attend.

Unsafe driving on Bennett Valley Road and Grange Road is a major problem. Excessive speed and distracted driving are two factors. Accidents are frequent. On Friday, May 25, there were six major accidents and one fatality. Another fatality occurred in June. The California Highway Patrol has increased the number of patrols and it's helped somewhat, but more needs to be done.

Please join us for this discussion sponsored by the Bennett Valley Community Association, Save Our Sonoma Roads, and the Bennett Valley Guild.

This report (Click Here), updated to the final version on June 11, 2018, was funded by the Sonoma County Transportation and Public Works Department and provides information on the current status of the 1,357 miles of pavement on county roads. Half of the road network is surveyed each year.

Currently, about 33% of the county road system is good or very good; 11% is fair; 26% is poor; and 30% is very poor or failed.

By functional classification, arterials are in the best shape (pavement condition index 79); major collectors have a PCI of 71; minor collectors a PCI of 49; and residential roads a PCI of 33.  Residential roads account for almost 58% of the county road system, and SOSroads members already know they are in the worst condition.

The countywide PCI has fallen from a recent high of 51 (2015) to 48, but it is still well above the PCI of 43 when SOSroads began in 2011. The recent decline may be attributed to the severe winter storms in 2016-2017.

The recommended budget scenario would improve the countywide PCI to 53 within five years, and will require an investment of about $250 million.

The Sonoma County Transportation and Public Works Department has recently issued lists of planned pavement projects for the 2018 and 2019 construction seasons with tentative start dates. The funds for these projects were allocated in part as the result of advocacy by SOSroads and its members.

To see the three-page “Planned Pavement Projects 2018 and 2019,” including road names and locations, pavement treatments, and tentative construction starting dates, click here.

Note that only portions of most listed roads are planned for pavement improvement, not the entire lengths of the roads. Among the portions of roads that are tentatively included for improvement this year (2018) are the following:

• April 2018: Bodega Highway and River Road.
• May 2018: Bohemian Highway, Grove Street, and River Road.
• June 2018: Austin Creek Road, Canfield Road, Franz Valley School Road, West Dry Creek Road, and Willowside Road.
• August 2018: Crane Canyon Road, Grange Road, Middle Two Rock Road, and Sonoma Mountain Road.

Be sure to review the entire list of roads. 

Sonoma County has launched a great new service to report road problems in the county. It's a website with companion Smartphone Apps for iPhone and Android called SoCo Report It. 

Give it a try! We've seen problems fixed very quickly if they're reported through this service. Use the cellphone app to pinpoint the location of the problem and include a picture for fastest response.