UKIAH >> Caltrans crews made quick work of guardrail repairs on the East Gobbi Street bridge over Highway 101, but another project on Highway 20 is taking longer than expected.
Caltrans spokesman Phil Frisbie Jr. said recent collisions had damaged sections of the guardrail on the East Gobbi Street overpass and parts had been ordered a while back. Once they came in, he said crews installed them this week and completed the project.
On Hwy. 20, however, a paving project is taking longer than originally expected.
“We hired a contractor to do emergency repairs,” said Frisbie, explaining that the asphalt was failing, causing “rocks to get kicked up” and other problems in a stretch between “Road A and the East Fork of the Russian River,” just east of Ukiah and north of Lake Mendocino.
Frisbie said when the contractor began grinding off the top layer of asphalt, the issue was revealed to be more extensive than originally thought, requiring more work than was laid out in the contract.
“In order to stretch the funds we had for the project, Caltrans crews are now doing the grinding work with our equipment,” Frisbie said, explaining that the grinding may be completed by next week. Once it is, the contractor, Darren Taylor Construction of Anderson, will come back to finish the paving.
Unfortunately, when the paving work resumes that will mean longer back-ups for motorists, who are currently experiencing what Frisbie described as “five-minute delays” for lane closures.
“The paving requires longer lane closures, so when that begins again you’ll see the longer delays,” he said, guessing that the paving work will not be completed until early April. “But we’ll have a better idea of the timeline when our crews are done with the paving.”
