News

Major paving work to begin mid-June on Ashby Avenue

June 11, 2012 1:00 pm by Tracey Taylor

Ashby Avenue: major repaving work is imminent. Photo: Ben Knobel

For any and all Berkeleyans who live close to Ashby Avenue, it may be time to get stocked up on earplugs. Starting soon — mid-June is the official date —  Caltrans will begin resurfacing Ashby (otherwise known as State Route 13), from Hiller Drive west to San Pablo Avenue.

As requested by the city, all construction work, which includes grinding and resurfacing, will take place on weekdays only during the daytime hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Night-time work will be limited to digout repairs at the intersections of Ashby and Telegraph, and Ashby and Shattuck, according to a statement released by Caltrans. All final striping for the project will be done during daytime and nighttime hours.

The work is expected to be completed by early fall 2012.

The first stage of the work will be on the Tunnel Road section, with the intention of completing all construction there as quickly as possible to accommodate emergency responders as we head into the fire season.

Watch also for special “No Parking” signs where work is taking place and ”Slow for the Cone Zones”. Portable, changeable message signs will also be placed approaching the work zone to warn motorists of any expected or unanticipated delays.

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27 Comments

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  • MFox327

    Just to San Pablo Ave.? That small section between San Pablo and 7th is the worst…

  • http://www.caviarcommunism.us/ West Bezerkeley

    I wonder if under the weird government maze of who’s responsible for what, if the City of Berkeley is responsible for Ashby from SP to I-80. It is weird that CalTrans would stop the repaving project at SP when Ashby from SP to I-80 needs some serious maintenance.

    Anybody know which government entity is responsible for the part of Ashby that looks like it will be overlooked in the repaving process?

  • David D.

     All of Ashby Avenue is a state highway, which means Caltrans. One would have to check directly with Caltrans or the City of Berkeley to see if there is a special maintenance agreement in place.

    I see this as a continuation of a Berkeley tradition. Last year’s repaving of Sacramento Street, for example, excluded the stretch from University to Hearst.

  • http://www.caviarcommunism.us/ West Bezerkeley

    I was under the impression that all of Ashby was considered a state highway as well, but since CalTrans is stopping a couple hundred yards short of the finish line I’m left to wonder and ask myself, WTF?

  • PragmaticProgressive

    Always leave them wanting more!

  • Anonymous

    Treat the symptoms, not the illness.

  • Biker 94703

    My guesses for the Sacramento Street fail have included: bart tunnel would collapse under weight of paving machine; a reminder of phil kamlarz’s fat life on the pension teat; indian burial mound; gas pipe/water main.

  • Marc

    The Caltrans contact for this project is Gregory Townsend, Public Information Officer, (510) 286-6115, gregory_townsend@dot.ca.gov .  Caltrans has set up a website about the project:  http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/13ashbyresurface/

    I sent Mr. Townsend a note and will post any results I get.

  • Marc

     Oops…incomplete comment.  My note asks why they are stopping at San Pablo.

  • Mars

    To keep the story short, I have been talking to both sides regarding
    this stretch of Highway 13. Ultimately I was told by Caltrans that the
    City of Berkeley was responsible for this small stretch of highway, per
    an agreement the city made with Caltrans. Although the city engineer
    called me and left me a message telling me he was unaware of any
    agreement, Caltrans did finally send me a pdf of the document which I
    have not had a chance to forward to the city. If anybody is interested
    I’ll see about making the 20 page document available for download,
    because frankly I cannot understand how a heavily used road like Ashby
    has been left to deteriorate so badly. 

  • Heather_W_62

    As badly as this project needs to happen, I am not happy about what it’s going to do to my commute. 

  • Zach Franklin

    Hi Mars. I would love to get a copy of the agreement, if you could post it for download that would be great.

  • Alina

    Wow… The City engineer said they didn’t know about such document? How embarassing. Thanks for looking into it, Marc. No wonder my emails to the city about getting a proper left-turn signal at Sac&Hopkins are ignored. I don’t think the City knows where Sac&Hopkins is :(

  • Mars

    Here is what Caltrans sent me.

    Below is a response to your request from District 4, Division of

    Maintenance.

    Attached below is the Delegated Maintenance Agreement with the City of

    Berkeley that indicates it is the City of Berkeley’s responsibility to

    maintain this stretch of Highway 13. Please see Section H, 13(a) and 13(b).

    https://docs.google.com/open?id=1yQlKctHd63TtMcj9W3BBOud5bn4OZPxMky0uIe8hKcQuUmoUlgOTnZBxZpBF

    In the meantime I will again try to get this information to the city and see what happens next. Perhaps the small portion of highway 13 may finally get the attention it needs.

  • Zach Franklin

    Thanks Mars!

  • Guest

    Yeah, exactly.  Sacramento is now quite nice, all except that three-block stretch.  (I believe the rough patch is actually from University to Delaware, not just to Hearst.)

    I’m also hoping that they’ll tackle Cedar between Shattuck and Sacramento once the sewer project there is done–it’s remarkably bad…

    Anyone know who to contact at this city to ask about this?

  • Prinzrob

    The Ashby interchange over I-80 is being planned for a 100% update, so perhaps the portion of Ashby from San Pablo to the highway is being left untouched for now as it will largely have to be torn up again for the interchange project.

  • http://www.caviarcommunism.us/ West Bezerkeley

    I didn’t know that. Is there a date set for that or is it one of those government project things with an estimated time of completion of 2018? I couldn’t help but poke at the snail-pace of government projects in N. Cal (earthquake in 1989, new Bay Bridge scheduled to open in 2013, but all of the damage from the 1994 Northridge quake in S.Cal has long since been fixed)

  • Prinzrob

    Not sure what the timeline is, because that is usually dependent on funding, but the project does have $54M earmarked in the recently released Plan Bay Area draft list of regional transportation projects, so if that is accepted it could be funded and built pretty quickly (all of these projects are supposed to have their plans finalized by this fall to receive funding).

    A separate source of funding will also build a bike/ped bridge to the south of the new interchange between 65th St and the Bay Trail in Emeryville.

  • http://www.caviarcommunism.us/ West Bezerkeley

    Thank you for providing some good info to help answer my question!

  • http://www.caviarcommunism.us/ West Bezerkeley

    Loud LOL in W.B reading your guesses

  • David D.

    Yes, actually, the stretch is from University to Delaware. The city’s website has a list of paving projects on it, but it isn’t completely up to date. I e-mailed my council rep about Fourth Street, which is in embarrassingly bad condition, and I received a timely and informative response from one of her staff members.

  • Suck it up, NIMBYs

    Ashby is already a nightmare, and now it’s going to be made worse by necessity.  The City should remove the “traffic control” blockades from the streets around Ashby to distribute the traffic throughout town, rather than jam up the usual streets. I know the Elmwood NIMBYs don’t want cars going past their precious estates, but it would benefit the majority if traffic could flow more evenly.  I used to live on Ashby and Benvenue. It took an extra mile of driving just to safely turn left during rush hour because of all the road blocks by the special butterflies who don’t want traffic, despite living in a CITY.  

  • A Guest

     Thumbs way up. The traffic calming in Berkeley is awful.

  • TN

    I don’t think that this document assigns the City of Berkeley the responsibility for repaving this section of Ashby Avenue. What this document purports to be is a contract between Caltrans and the City of Berkeley for the former to pay the latter for the routine maintenance of Ashby Avenue. It makes no mention of non-routine work such as repaving.

    Unless there are other contracts in place, this one does not support Caltrans’ position.

  • Mars

    Just got an email from the city indicating the section of Ashby bounded by 7th Street and San Pablo, is tentatively planned to be paved during the summer of 2013. I guess another year of rough riding over this section.

  • Heyzack

    I would very much like to see Cedar done as well.  The heavy machinery really did a number on the already poor street surface.  And it’s a pretty major arterial.