Majority of Sonoma Valley’s Springs rates ‘poor’ in pavement

The Springs Municipal Advisory Council reviewed and identified Boyes Hot Springs roads most in need of repairs for the county’s Pavement Preservation Program in 2024-25 during its meeting Oct. 12.

The MAC had a lot of material to work with.

Streets in Boyes Hot Springs are considered in “very poor” condition based on assessments from Sonoma County Transportation and Public Works Department, which accepts recommendations for roads that would most benefit from the Pavement Preservation Program.

Springs MAC members Iris Lombard and Hannah Perot suggested roads in need for 2024-25 and provided a full picture of the poor road conditions found throughout the Springs.

“Our roads in the Springs are horrible. There is a mini lake that occurs on a road by me on Mulberry when it rains,” Perot said. “It is so hard to prioritize which are the worst ones and you just kind of have to look at almost any road besides Boyes (Boulevard) and Verano (Avenue).”

Perot and Lombard, as part of the MAC’s working group for roads, drove the streets of the Springs and identified ones in poorest condition and disrepair.

In total, they identified just over 2 miles of streets for consideration for the Pavement Preservation Program, with many located in the commercial corridor of the Springs where lines of traffic frequently extend out from businesses and schools.

“In the core, where more businesses are and things, you would see that it’s almost entirely red,” Iris Lombard said, identifying roads that are marked for “very poor” conditions by the county’s grading standard.

Their recommendations will be sent to the county’s Public Works Department, which will decide which of the unincorporated roadways will be fixed in 2024-25. Most recently, the county’s pavement program led to fresh asphalt on Arnold Drive and Railroads Avenue.

First District Supervisor Susan Gorin said the roads often chosen for the Pavement Preservation Program are bigger sections of roads like Petaluma Avenue, which was repaved earlier in 2022.

Gorin said the board of supervisors has made a commitment to adding more funding to improve roads and support paving efforts each year. However, she said these efforts are stymied through a small tax base population that supports a large network of roads in Sonoma County.

“We are the county that contributes a larger percentage of the general fund to the repaving of the roads than any other county,” Gorin said in the Oct. 12 meeting. “But I hear you, the roads are in terrible shape.”

In a message to the public, Perot urged members of the community to send messages detailing the condition of their streets to the county’s Public Works Department for consideration in the program in future years.

“I just encourage everyone to complain to the county about the conditions of their roads,” Perot said. “They deserve to hear from all of us.”

Contact Chase Hunter at chase.hunter@sonomanews.com and follow @Chase_HunterB on Twitter.