REEDLEY – Much needed improvements are coming to some of the city’s more deteriorated roads.
On Sept. 23, the Reedley City Council approved a road reconstruction project totalling $543,572, which will revitalize Rupert and Church avenues between Dinuba and Curtis avenues. The reconstruction will be thorough, bringing each road up to speed with ADA compliance, and improving general safety.
“(This project) was really chosen based upon the road condition,” said City Manager Nicole Zieba at the city council meeting. “The road is falling apart.”
According to City Engineer Marilu Morales, Rupert Avenue will be gutted and replaced with new curbs, gutters, sidewalks and ADA compliant curb ramps. The road itself will also be fully reconstructed.
Church Avenue will see new curb ramps, driveway approaches, removal of sidewalks that have been lifted by tree roots and a full road reconstruction. Morales also reported an alley along Curtis Avenue that doesn’t have an alley approach or sidewalk, so that gap will be filled as well.
Zieba gave the council and the public some additional context as to why this project was chosen, explaining that the project was planned for three years ago with Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. CDBG funds can only be used in certain areas based on the census tract median income, and since the roads in question are in an area that qualifies, their noticeable age made this project a priority in the budget.
Although this is a CDBG project, Morales noted that Measure C funds will be used to help bridge the gap in funding to make the project wholly constructible. The county requested that the project use additional CDBG funds, but according to Morales, that funding would not arrive until December or January.
In the interim, Morales has budgeted $143,230 of Measure C funds to get the project started as soon as possible.
“Measure C fills in the gap on lots of projects like this, so I just wanted to reiterate how important that funding is,” Morales said to the council.
Morales reported aiming to have the project begin within the next month, and to have it completed by the end of the year if weather permits.
