Permits Delaying Redwood Road Repairs, Public Works Says

Redwood Road will not reopen before winter rains set in, Alameda County Public Works Director Daniel Woldesenbet told a luncheon meeting of the Castro Valley Rotary on Tuesday, October 31.

Construction is ready to go but requires permits from multiple agencies that need to be included, he said. 

“People think the construction is what causes delays (in fixing roads), but it can be quite quick,” he said. “Waiting for permits from regulatory agencies can take a lot longer.” 

Woldesenbet said getting a single permit can take two to four years, which startled some in the audience. He quickly added that he hoped permits could be obtained over the winter, when rains make it impossible to repair roads, and construction could begin in spring. 

Other big storm damage to Castro Valley Roads caused by the heavy rains of last winter has been repaired, the director said. 

While the degree of damage to A Street would have normally taken two to five years to fix, it was restored to its post-repair state in only one month, Woldesenbet said.

“We fixed it in record time,” he said. “The emergency declaration did help in clearing away obstacles like regulatory approvals much more quickly than usual.”

Also fixed quickly was damage along Palomares Road, he said. This was while the county was busily fixing road damage in other parts of the county, including along the Estudillo Canal in San Leandro, Foothill Boulevard in Pleasanton, and Stanley Boulevard in Livermore.

The Livermore repairs were delayed when vultures were found nesting by the road, he said. However, authorities might view those birds as a protected species, he said. 

The county repaired its part of Lake Chabot Road relatively quickly, from Fairmont Road to the San Leandro city line near the Bay-O-Vista Swim and Tennis Club at Astor Drive, Woldesenbet said. The San Leandro section is taking longer to fix, he said, but the city controls those repairs.

At a different meeting on October 29, San Leandro residents heard the city’s engineering and transportation director say the city’s portion of Lake Chabot would not be repaired until at least the spring. 

Gary Bosley, Castro Valley Rotary’s short program chair, said he was impressed by Woldesenbet’s presentation and by the quick work by Public Works repairing most of the roads.

“To have lost Redwood Road and Lake Chabot Road – that was a significant percentage of entries into Castro Valley,” Bosley said.

Woldesenbet did not mention another big road repair affecting Castro Valley along Crow Canyon Road. The county appears to have finished an improvement project that had started before the storms; however, on a recent visit, traffic was moving freely.