Paso Robles: Vine Street reconstruction, finally

Work has begun in Paso Robles on one of the worst stretches of pavement along the ALC route: South Vine Street leaving the city and heading toward Highway 46.

As reported last month in the Paso Robles Press:

Commuters utilizing South Vine Street to travel around the Westside of Paso Robles can expect some major improvements come 2010.

On Wednesday, officials, a slew of bicycle riders and other members of the public gathered at the Courtyard by Marriot to celebrate the groundbreaking for a project to widen and rehabilitate a roughly two-mile stretch of South Vine Street from First Street to the Highway 46 West interchange.

Rockwood General Contractors will complete the roughly $2.7 million grant-funded project, likely beginning next week, to construct Class II bike lanes to and resurface South Vine Street, a section of road described by city officials as both narrow and severely deteriorated.

... South Vine Street was originally slated to be closed from First Street to Wilmar Place for an estimated four to six months beginning this month, but the Paso Robles City Council re-considered the closure and opted to keep the road open and extend rehabilitation to the Highway 46 West right-of-way instead of ending at Wilmar Place.

As the story explains, there is really no other viable route southbound out of Paso Robles, so we don't really have any other options. But as my pictures from today show, the road is in absolutely horrible shape (note that, in the bottom photo, that's an actual traffic lane, not a shoulder), made even worse by the beginning of the construction -- which certainly will have progressed by the time we roll through in seven weeks.

This will be an area where extreme caution is advised.