Construction on 17th Street in Paso Robles began Tuesday with the excavation of segments of the street to prepare for the installation of new sidewalks, gutters, and curbs.
The construction from Chestnut to Spring Street is part of a six-year road repair plan funded by taxpayer dollars.
The city has committed to 13 road construction projects between 2022-2024 alone. Measure E-12, a half-cent supplemental sales tax, has committed over $32 million to the plan.
Residents are happy all of the potholes will finally be gone.
“I personally think that [17th Street] is the worst road in Paso," local Bethany Savala said.
“As much of a mess this may be, we're happy about it," resident Bill Dimmer said. "A happy mess.“
Aside from water line and construction work, neighbors said the road hadn't been fully redone in decades.
“I'll have my phone, like on the GPS holder literally, on my way home," Savala said. "And my phone just flew off of the thing because it went over a little pothole. I feel like for the average person, that would be so annoying to have construction in front of your house. But if anything, we were so grateful. We were like, thank God this is getting fixed.“
17th Street has a pavement condition index ranging between 20-30 out of 100. Once the project is complete, the pavement condition index will be in the mid-90s.
“[The construction crew] have been very flexible because they know what we're going through," Dimmer said. "We've had a lot of dirt, dust, all that kind of stuff."
Riverside from 17th to 24th Street will soon see repairs as well.
The online street maintenance map can be found here.
