Photo by Patrick Ray
Supervisor Peters and the Kern County Public Works Department gave the Kern Valley Sun an update on Sierra Way, Friday July 19.
Supervisor Phillip Peters said, “They are working on Sierra Way. My best estimate would probably be within the next couple months it’ll be done. They (the contractors) have an estimate of 85 days. So I don’t really have any set in stone (date.)”
Peters wanted to reassure the public that every effort has been made. He stated, “I’ll just say that this is a challenging project. And this is something that we’ve been working diligently. I know sometimes it may not seem like a lot of work is being done, but I can assure you that there is, behind the scenes. And I know that public works, since this road was taken out during the storm, that they’ve been working very hard on getting it up and running. And I think they’ve done a good job with trying to manage it best they can. And I think Granite Construction is going to do a great job. They’re a great company. And I’m just looking forward to getting this reopened for the community.”
Sal Gomez public works assistant director explained the process for residents of the Kern Valley. He said, “The project started July 15th. It has 85 working days, which will put us at the week of November 4th, completion date. However we think and we believe Granite (Construction) can build it sooner than that.”
Gomez also explained that within the project there’s a lot of unknowns because the team has been rushing through the design knowing how important this road is for Kern Valley residents. He said, “So the flows have diminished. I think they are roughly about 40 cfs so I think we can control the water better now and so hopefully it won’t take as long. Initially we had estimated ten weeks to complete the project, which was roughly in September. However because we modified our design a little bit, and like I said there was a little bit of unknowns, we just want to be a little bit conservative with our time. Just so that we could get a better bid. Granite is the contractor. And they have started working.”
The county is hopeful that it can get Sierra Way opened sooner than the projected 85 working days
The county is constructing a 4-bay concrete culvert. In addition to that they will put in 2- 60 inch pipes, in two locations, one of which would be in the failure area and the other would be replacing 2 existing 48 inch pipes, culverts, located there.
Gomez also talked about the future. “This is still a temporary solution because this is only being designed to a ten year flood. So we do have a consultant that is working on a permanent solution, which will be designed to a hundred year flood. However I can’t give you a timeline on that because we haven’t secured funding,” he said. “We don’t have a final design so it’s in the works. So this is only still an emergency temporary solution.”
Gomez hoped the press would please let the public know that the county is doing its best. He said, “The contractor knows the importance of this road and we are trying to make that very clear to them. They are a very good contractor. And so they are going to be doing their best trying to get it open as soon as we can. Thank you for being so patient.”
The county plans to notify the press and public when Sierra Way opens
