OAKLEY – This city has cleared certainly one of the ultimate hurdles to expand a two-lane highway that is commonly clogged during emergencies and is the one way out for some residents.
A bit of East Cypress Road can now be widened following an agreement to bury an in-the-way Contra Costa Water District canal.
For residents of the growing far-eastern Oakley and Bethel Island area, where hundreds of homes are planned, it served as a thoroughfare, with the one other option within the event of a disaster just like the windswept fires that led to it coming down narrow private roads escaped evacuations several years ago.
To treatment the situation, town plans to widen a part of the road from two to 6 lanes. However, first she must bury the channel that’s in her path. The Oakley City Council voted to do exactly that last week, unanimously approving the design and construction agreement with the water district to switch the canal at East Cypress with an underground pipeline that might also improve drinking water quality.
Assistant City Manager Danielle Navarro on Monday emphasized the importance of the primary phase of the upcoming project.
“The undergrounding of the culvert on this section of road is critical to the completion of these road improvements,” she said. “Any improvements made to the road will benefit both residents and emergency personnel trying to get in and out of the corridor and to (and) Bethel Island.”
Widening the road took a long time, but it surely was no easy task as many firms and landowners were involved, including the Contra Costa Water District, the county, private developers and personal property owners.
Kevin Rohani, city engineer and public works director, last week called the project “extremely complex,” noting that it involves multiple utility lines crisscrossing the road and the necessity to cut the canal to accommodate the Road to expand and accommodate ultimate road improvements.
In the primary phase of the project, the brand new 2,200-foot stretch of road – from Knightsen Avenue to Jersey Island Road – will likely be built north of the prevailing road and the old road will remain as a frontage road.
Rohani said the water district has accomplished the vast majority of its sewer substitute project, apart from a piece positioned on East Cypress Road. The earlier phases of the Oakley canal project were accomplished with the event of the Cypress Grove, Emerson Ranch and later Delaney Ranch and Burroughs subdivisions and resulted in 2019.
The Contra Costa Canal runs from Knightsen to Concord and provides water to greater than 500,000 people in eastern and central Contra Costa County. In 2009, the district began replacing canals with buried pipes to enhance water quality and safety and minimize water losses.
Rouhani said town's expansion project requires an in depth partnership with the water district. The county will reimburse town $2.2 million, which is able to cover the price of the underground line and its placement under the roadway.
Mayor Anissa Williams asked if the road widening project might be refrained from burying the canal.
“Not really, because the canal still needs to be renovated,” said Rouhani. “Right now it is the only section of this canal that is not underground.”
Navarro estimated the price of the road widening project from Knightsen Avenue west of Jersey Island at $10 million. That section will likely be fully rehabilitated with a brand new six-lane road, bike lanes, curbs, gutters and sidewalks, in addition to street lights, traffic signals, landscaping and a brand new stormwater drainage system, she said.
According to staff, the project will likely be funded through traffic impact fee funds paid by the developers.
Construction is predicted to start later this month on the intersection of East Cypress Road and Knightsen Avenue and proceed to Jersey Island Road. The project is predicted to be accomplished inside a yr – assuming there aren’t any delays, Navarro said.
Future developers, meanwhile, will likely be answerable for further widening East Cypress Road from Jersey Island Road to Bethel Island Road.
Also within the works is a 1.5-mile extension of Bethel Island Road south to Delta Road to offer one other route out of the world. However, that road would largely run through unincorporated county land, Navarro said, with a preliminary cost estimated at about $20 million.
“The construction of this road will currently involve private developers, who will be building the new Grand Cypress Preserve subdivision project in the future, and the county,” she said.
Still, the council recently awarded a contract for environmental assessment work “to evaluate the feasibility of alternative options in lieu of connecting to Delta Road for secondary vehicles and emergency access,” Navarro said.
Meanwhile, the deputy city manager warned motorists to decelerate in construction zones and prepare for longer travel times out and in of the world.
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