Several roads throughout Atascadero were damaged during the March storms.
When officials called for a contractor to handle all five locations, they received no bids. So city leaders had to take a different route.
“We put out a bid to package them all up and have one contractor do them all and receive no bids on that," Deputy Director of Pubilc Works, Ryan Hayes said. "So we had to take them apart and give them or actually put them out, have several different contractors, fix different parts around town.”
Tuesday night, the city will vote to finalize Porter Construction and Souza Construction to repair the five roadways that include Santa Ana Rd, Laurel Rd, Chico Rd, Hermonsa Ave, and Orillas Way.
“It's actually been really kind of a difficult year in terms of getting bids and interest from contractors," Hayes added. "We live in a small area on the Central Coast. We have a fairly limited pool of contractors anyway. And then with the storms in January, there's just been so much work for repair similar to this that the contractors have just been buried.”
Hayes says contractors have been experiencing labor issues. While roadways in need of immediate repair were taken care of, driveable roads had to take a backseat.
“These roads that we're doing now, our roads have been passable the whole time," Hayes commented. "They just need to be repaired before the next rainy season.”
Those who drive the roadways that are still driveable still try to work around them until the roads can be repaired.
“There are times where I pass it and I luckily swerve that area," Jose Guadarrama, Atascadero City Council Program Specialist said. "But I would make a phone call or text somebody I know that's going to be going down that same road and just give them a heads up, you know, just to be safe.”
The city council plans to authorize the administrative services director to allocate $250,000 in capital project funds to repair the damage.
The city of Atascadero also has current projects that include cleaning drainage channels and storm drain culverts in preparation for another wet winter.
