Healdsburg residents have grown used to the traffic control signs on both Matheson Street and Powell Avenue that warn that the road ahead, at 1846 North Fitch Mountain Rd., is closed and not expected to open until the end of September. A walking tour of the area in question, a quarter-mile length of the two-lane road that encircles Fitch Mountain, confirms it is still in need of much construction, with bare earth exposed by bulldozers and huge construction equipment parked at the site.
But Johannes Hoevertsz, director of Sonoma County Public Infrastructure, remains optimistic that the repair will be completed by Sept. 30, on schedule. It’s one of seven road projects the county hopes to complete by the end of summer, including on Wohler Road, Westside Road, West Soda Rock Lane, and at locations in Forestville and Glen Ellen.
Those other projects are all county “Priority 1 projects,” Hoevertsz said, “emergency construction … to repair landslides and bridge damage from the destructive storms of last November and again this February.”
The North Fitch Mountain project, however, is funded by the Federal Highway Administration and dates from 2017, when another winter of extreme rainfall led to the collapse of the roadway just beyond Villa Chanticleer’s entrance and a significant landslide just beyond that.
Though the two damaged areas, known as the “slump” and the “slide” to residents, have a common origin in heavy rainfall, they represent two different construction projects and methods.
“The slump side was a failure of the slope and the road caused by saturation of the soil,” Hoevertsz said. “The soil settled approximately between four and five feet all in one shot. We had to wait for it to dry to fix it.”
The road crews, under Petaluma road contractor Team Ghilotti, are installing a “French drain” pipe system on the uphill side of the slump which will drain rainfall to the downhill side of the road, enabling a deep repair of the slumping roadway.
Farther down the road is the “slide” portion of the damage. “The slope of the embankment oversaturated and failed,” the director said. “What we have to do is flatten the slope of the embankment and install what we call gabion walls to allow for the water to drain.” Gabions are essentially wire mesh cages of rock that are strong, water-permeable and somewhat flexible—useful for protecting slopes or seashores.
“Both solutions are really clever. I think they’re really smart,” Hoevertsz said. “Low maintenance. They allow for drainage and they’re probably long term for many years to come.” He credited the team at Sonoma County Public Infrastructure, singling out the team lead, Cindy Rader.
Other options would have been larger, more expensive, more disruptive. “I think this is practical and feasible, and I think it’s going to work really well,” Hoevertsz said.
Neighbors of the North Fitch Mountain community are sure to be glad to see this fix. Although the slump portion of the road has been problematic for years, it was only last winter’s landslide that made the road repair imperative. As well as preventing traffic from driving the four-mile road, the closure forced the cancellation of the Fitch Mountain Race, a traditional June fun run for area joggers.
Though a significant amount of work remains as August comes to an end, Hoevertsz seemed confident that an end-of-September goal remained possible. “There may be a few tweaks that we still have to do, but the drainage is going to work,” he said. “Hopefully it’ll be solid. Then vegetation starts growing, and it will look like we didn’t do any of this stuff.”
A ribbon-cutting is planned for the end of the month, when Fitch Mountain Road reopens to local traffic, bike riders and fun runners.
