CHICO — Over the next few months, in what Mayor Andrew Coolidge calls “the summer of construction,” the City of Chico will roll out an unprecedented wave of infrastructure improvements that will continue for summers — and other seasons — to come.
The city has awarded $60 million in contracts for road repairs, as announced Monday. Simultaneously, the Public Works department has started renovations approaching that amount — most notably, upgrades at the wastewater processing facility and to aging sewer lines.
All told, Chico is dedicating over $100 million to capital projects that touch every part of town.
Construction work continues on West Fifth Street in Chico, California on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (Jake Hutchison/Enterprise-Record)
“The city is committed to building out the infrastructure that Chico deserves after decades of neglect,” Councilor Tom van Overbeek said.
Directly managing the work are the two public works directors: Brendan Ottoboni, who oversees the engineering division, and Erik Gustafson, who oversees operations and maintenance. Their tasks overlap; for instance, the need to replace sewer lines downtown (Gustafson’s bailiwick) — which will require tearing up and repaving thoroughfares — spawned the Complete Streets Project to reconfigure streetscapes (Ottoboni’s realm).
Friday morning in city hall, they discussed the brewing changes.
“They’re all kind of coming to fruition now,” Ottoboni said, noting several projects have percolated for the better part of a decade. “It’s great to see it. The amount of hard work getting done behind the doors of city hall and the O&M yard, people don’t get to see that day in and day out, but the work product that we’re putting out is clearly a reflection of that hard work and dedication of our staff.”
Gustafson agreed, adding: “It’s also important to note that we’re as strategic as we possibly can be in stretching the dollars as much as we possibly can. As we see a real integration between O&M and Engineering staff, everything is spread out through the entire city, not just one or two council districts.”
Project list
Public Works Engineering tracks capital projects on a page on the city’s website (chico.ca.us). They include:
• Widening Bruce Road from Highway 32 to Skyway;
• Building a Bikeway 99 bridge crossing over 20th Street;
• Improving safety and accessibility on The Esplanade from 11th Street to Memorial Way;
• Resurfacing Upper Park Road from Wildwood Park to the Monkey Face parking lot;
• Rehabbing roadways around the city including Notre Dame Boulevard and Rio Lindo Avenue;
• Expanding capacity and updating equipment at the Wastewater Pollution Control Plant, along with replacing sewer lines;
• Remodeling city hall and Fire Station 1 while planning for Station 2, Station 6 and a new facility for the Chico Police Department.
Measure H, the 1% sales tax addition approved by Chico voters in 2022, funds much of the roadwork. Sewer-rate increases the City Council adopted last year cover that chunk of infrastructure. Grants defray other costs.
“We’re really trying to approach it from a ‘let’s do it right’ (perspective),” Ottoboni explained, “because, big picture, as stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars, we’re thinking of it long term, not just the here and now. It’s not putting lipstick on a pig; it’s doing it the right way so our future selves and future residents aren’t bearing the brunt.”
“It’s digging once,” Gustafson injected. “In areas where sewer lines need to be replaced, the intent is to dig sewer lines, update all utilities, any underground infrastructure is done first, then the roadway rehabilitation — complete streets — are done last.”
Cost-benefit
The condition of Chico’s streets proved a major selling point for Measure H. With an average pavement condition index of poor (49 on a 100-point scale, with some stretches near the bottom), the council decided to allot the majority of the new revenue to roadwork. That translated to $17 million of nearly $24 million collected the first year.
Concerns extend beyond potholes rattling vehicle suspensions. Van Overbeek pointed to safety for cyclists and pedestrians, too, noting that the California Office of Traffic Safety recorded 32 collisions between cyclists and cars in 2021 causing injury or death.
“Of the 60 cities in the report, Chico is in the bottom 20% for bicycle accidents,” he continued. “Improving bicycle safety is a major goal of Chico’s road rehabilitation program. The Bruce Road and the Esplanade Safety and Accessibility projects and, of course, the Bikeway 99 project have significant bike infrastructure elements that will make cycling safer and more enjoyable.”
Incorporating elements for people riding bikes and walking downtown remains a key aspect of the complete streets project, which Ottoboni’s engineers are grappling with during the conceptual phase. In the meantime, Public Works refers to a 10-year plan the council adopted to guide road repairs and continues preparations for other projects.
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“We get a lot of service requests,” Gustafson said, “and in the last year or two, it’s primarily surrounding roadway infrastructure, potholes, things like that — and where we’re going to repair items, and ‘why can’t you just simply repave this section of roadway?’
“It takes time. We can’t just go out and repave a road. If we’re going to upgrade the infrastructure, it triggers a lot of requirements.” (Ottoboni cited the Americans with Disabilities Act as an example.)
“We get calls every single day (asking) ‘when is my road going to get fixed?’” Ottoboni said. “As public employees, it’s hard for us to say no because we want to fix it all. But to be efficient and effective, this is going to be a 15- to 20-year heavy lift to get caught up after decades of neglect and deflection of maintenance obligations.”
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