Fulton Road Reconstruction and Flashing Yellow Left Turn Arrow Retrofit Projects Awarded

The City of Santa Rosa is proud to announce it has been recognized as the overall winner of the 2021 Outstanding Local Streets and Roads (LSR) Project Awards for its Fulton Road Reconstruction – Occidental Road to West Third Street, and as the Safety/Intelligent Transportation System winner for its Flashing Yellow Left Turn Arrow Retrofits. These honors were received from the League of California Cities, County Engineers Association of California (CEAC), and California State Association of Counties (CSAC).

The 2021 Outstanding Local Streets and Roads Project Awards Program highlights exceptional work by cities and counties throughout California that are employing projects, programs, practices and innovative technologies and materials to achieve efficiency, preservation and sustainability goals for the statewide local street and road systems. 

About the Fulton Road Reconstruction Project – Occidental to West Third Street
Santa Rosa’s Fulton Road Reconstruction Project repaired approximately 3,200 lineal feet of 4-lane heavily traveled roadway and associated bike lanes utilizing concrete pavement rather than asphalt. The concrete pavement features a minimum 40-year design life requiring little to no maintenance. While only two percent of local governments currently use concrete pavement, this innovative technology is proving to be less costly, longer lasting and requiring less lifetime maintenance than asphalt pavement. The Fulton Road Reconstruction project was funded in part by Measure M sales tax and SB1 gas tax.

This is the third award recognition the City of Santa Rosa has received for the Fulton Road Reconstruction Project. In October 2020, the project was recognized by the Engineering News Record (ENR) with California’s Best Projects 2020 Award of Merit, and in November 2020 selected as the Infrastructure Project of the Year by the American Concrete Institute – Northern California region.

Given the immediate and long-term benefits of concrete pavement, the City is looking to future road reconstruction projects where this innovative and sustainable technology can be utilized within the city limits. The Pacific Avenue Reconstruction Project – Humboldt Street to Montecito Avenue was recently selected as the next roadway reconstruction project to utilize concrete pavement technology.

About the Flashing Yellow Left Turn Arrow Retrofit Project
Construction for the Flashing Yellow Left Turn Arrow (FYA) Retrofit project began in February 2020 and proceeded without interruption until the Shelter-in-Place Health Orders resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic were issued in March 2020, suspending construction activities. Despite the many challenges presented by COVID-19, work was able to resume within two weeks of the lifted restrictions allowing the project to be completed in 35 working days. Upon completion, a total of 67 approaches at 37 signalized intersections were updated with 134 new FYA signal heads. 

An FYA means a driver may turn left with caution, after yielding to oncoming cars, bicycles and pedestrians. The flashing yellow left turn arrow is followed by the better-known solid left turn arrow which indicates the signal is about to turn red and you should prepare to stop.

Based on data collected nationwide, this project will result in a reduction of collisions for left-hand vehicle turns in intersections where flashing yellow arrow assemblies were installed.

For more information on the LSR project awards and a list of all 2021 winners visit, https://www.savecaliforniastreets.org/award-program/award-winners

League of California Cities Press Release https://www.cacities.org/Top/News/Press-Releases/2021/City-of-Santa-Rosa-Claims-Top-Honors-in-2021-Outst