The San Benito County Board of Supervisors is expected to
approve a series of road construction contracts worth more than
$1.33 million for repair of some of the county’s most-traveled
roadways.
The San Benito County Board of Supervisors is expected to approve a series of road construction contracts worth more than $1.33 million for repair of some of the county’s most-traveled roadways.
During the Board’s regularly scheduled meeting at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, it is expected to approve six contracts to rent heavy equipment and materials to complete a series of overlays that would extend the life of numerous deteriorating sections of local roads.
County officials have targeted the overlay projects for:
San Felipe Road from Shore Road to Highway 156;
Fallon Road from Fairview Road to the Hollister city limits;
East Fallon Road from Fairview Road to Spring Grove Road;
McCloskey Road from Fairview Road to the Hollister city limits;
Santa Ana Road from Fairview Road to the Hollister City limits.
An overlay covers worn-out sections of roads with a coating of new asphalt and to extend the life of the roads.
Although the proposal is expected to be approved by the Board, it is by no means a foregone conclusion.
“It’s not a question of the need (to repair the roads) not being there,” Supervisor Reb Monaco said.
The road projects were made possible by the county Public Works Department’s ability to keep costs down on earlier projects, said Peter Corn, assistant public works director.
Corn said the savings came largely from having county crews complete the overlays instead of paying a construction company to do it.
“The savings to the county is substantial,” he said. “We’ll supply most of the labor.”
During last year’s budget hearings, the Board allocated a total of $2.3 million for local road repair and overlay projects. County Public Works Director Doug Koenig initially gave supervisors two suggestions for using about $1.3 million in funds from several state grants to repair local roads.
The first option was to complete repairs on San Justo Road from Lucy Brown Road to San Juan Highway. That project came in under the projected $1.34 million budget at a cost of approximately $755,000.
Some of the funds for the overlay project were part of the $23.5 million promised to the county from the 1999 settlement against four major U.S. tobacco companies.
Last year, the county made an agreement to take a lump sum portion of the $23.5 million now, rather than risk not receiving any of the funds.
