Board of Supervisors authorizes repair of Moscow Road due to risk of failure following multiple major storm events

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors today authorized the Department of Public Infrastructure to move forward with permanent repairs to storm-damaged sites on Moscow Road in west Sonoma County. A total of three storm sites from 2019 and 2023 are at risk of failure and could isolate more than 250 residents. Permanent repair of all sites is expected to begin this summer.

“Today’s action represents an investment in critical road infrastructure, which is our charge as county leaders and consistent with our five-year strategic plan for resilient infrastructure,” said Chris Coursey, chair of the Board of Supervisors. “Because we have environmental clearance from the state to include the 2023 site with the 2019 sites, we can construct all three sites at the same time, which is expected to reduce overall costs.”

The Moscow Road repairs are expected to cost $3.5 million and will initially be paid for with an intradepartmental revolving credit line between the Integrated Waste Division and the Roads Division. The Board of Supervisors approved a revolving line of credit in 2021 for FEMA-approved projects. Today’s action included an adjustment that would allow funding for projects not yet officially approved by FEMA. When state and federal reimbursements are received, the initial line of credit will be repaid.

“I’m glad to say that we aren’t waiting. We’re taking action to restore safe access along Moscow Road for residents and emergency first responders,” said Lynda Hopkins, District 5 Supervisor. “Large-scale repair projects like this usually take multiple years of engineering, permitting and construction. FEMA-funded disaster projects take four years. I’m grateful we were able to work with Sonoma County Public Infrastructure to move this forward in record time, and to come up with a creative local funding solution. And I’m thankful to impacted community members for their patience, advocacy, and perseverance.” 

County officials are working with CalOES and FEMA to secure funding for the 2023 site repairs, which are adjacent to the 2019 site, a previously approved FEMA disaster repair. The County of Sonoma has been impacted by eight federally declared disasters since 2017, resulting in an estimated $100 million of damage to county transportation infrastructure.

Sonoma County uses a combination of corrective maintenance and pavement preservation to take care of 1,368 miles of roads and 328 bridges, which is the largest road network in the San Francisco Bay Area. Because state gas tax (SB1) funding for roads is distributed based on the number of vehicle registrations rather than the number of road miles, rural counties receive less road funding. Other funding sources for county road repairs include the Measure L transient occupancy tax and Measure M sales tax. 

In 2012, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors began using a significant number of taxpayers’ discretionary General Funds to bolster pavement preservation efforts and today contributes more to maintain the county’s road system than any other California counties. Since that time, the board has invested more than $169 million of discretionary dollars in road improvements and completed 456 miles of pavement preservation and rehabilitation projects throughout the county.

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Media Contact: 
Dan Virkstis, Communications Specialist
(707) 565-3040 
Daniel.Virkstis@sonoma-county.org