Members of the Oakdale City Council gathered for a special meeting at City Hall, Monday, June 12 to discuss road concerns, inviting the public to listen and share their two cents about upcoming projects.
What started as an informational meeting about how the city selects road projects within the city, turned into a discussion regarding concerns over driver habits and pedestrian safety.
The good news, city staff is working diligently to budget the city’s resources in the most efficient way possible, but the bad news is, there’s always more work needed than the budget will accommodate.
However, according to Jeff Gravel, Public Services Director, the overall paving network coursing through the city is in “good” condition, with only patches of areas that are “failing.”
The city’s pavement network is comprised of 83.4 centerline miles of streets, which in replacement costs, not including curbs, gutters, sidewalk and utilities, tallies up to $135 million.
That’s a lot of city dough.
And while everyone has an opinion on which street repair should take priority over another, the reality is the city is trying to be creative in augmenting the funds available for that particular purpose in the hopes of getting the most done.
City Manager Bryan Whitemyer explained, “Significant efforts have been made. We recognize that there’s still several roadside segments that need a lot of help and attention. But we will continue to take bites of this elephant because, it really is an elephant. And what strategy we have is we’re really in a race. We’re in a race to try to keep up with the decline of the roadways to try to extend the life of those.”
Whitemyer likened road repair to the constant repair needs of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco — once one end is finished, the workers immediately start again — because the wear and tear never stops.
Discussions quickly turned to safety concerns regarding drivers speeding, texting while driving, and otherwise being reckless.
Suggestions included installing more safety features such as “speed humps,” police sting operations, which included more traffic control measures, ticketing, and increased police presence — all of which have been used with temporary success.
“You’ve identified really important issues that we’re trying to address,” Whitemyer agreed, however the issue remains that the mitigating measures are being thwarted by the drivers themselves.
City staff also educated the community on the limitations placed on the city when addressing anything related to the state highways. Despite repeated attempts to convince CalTrans that lighted crosswalks are needed on F Street, all requests have been turned down.
Which ties the city’s hands.
“We can’t interfere with the state highway,” council member Chris Smith said, sharing the frustration.
Then, there’s the running joke, “Don’t cross the street in Oakdale,” referencing the dangerous potential of getting hit in the crosswalk while crossing the city’s main thoroughfare because drivers don’t seem to want to stop for pedestrians.
Oakdale City Police Chief Jerry Ramar confirmed, “Drivers aren’t stopping for pedestrians. We’ve seen it,” adding, “…We only have so many staff and there’s only so much we can do.”
The City will be hosting another Special City Council workshop on Thursday, June 15 at 7 p.m. to discuss the Greger Sports Park Conceptual Plan and the potential location for the community splash pad.
The meeting will be held at the Gene Bianchi Community Center at 110 S. Second Ave., relocated there from the originally planned City Hall location due to the high interest and anticipated large crowd.
