Sonora City Council will seek bids on downtown bus stops
The Sonora City Council voted 3-1-1 Monday night to move forward with seeking bids for a project funded by Caltrans that will install bus stops and make other changes near the city’s busiest downtown intersection.
After nearly four years in development, contractors will soon be vying for the roughly $1.5 million to $1.6 million job that includes constructing bus stops on each side of Stockton Road just west of Green Street, a pedestrian crossing at South Green Street, modifying traffic lights at Stockton and Washington streets, and other sidewalk and street improvements at the intersection.
Rachelle Kellogg, the city community development director, said the work is expected to begin May 9 and take 85 days to complete. Bids will be accepted beginning at 2 p.m. Feb. 28.
Councilmen Mark Plummer, Matt Hawkins and Jim Garaventa voted in favor of the project going out to bid, Councilwoman Colette Such voted no, and Coun
cilwoman Ann Segerstrom abstained.
Segerstrom said she abstained because she wasn’t on the council when the project was first conceived.
Such has voted against the project since she got on the council in July 2018 and said on Tuesday that she remained in opposition because she believes it’s “the wrong project in the wrong spot.”
“Lots of people didn’t like that project, but it kept moving forward because money had already been spent on consultants and engineers,” she explained, adding that her first ever vote after becoming a member of the council was related to the project.
In addition, Such said she doesn’t believe the locations of the bus stops are ideal for riders of the local public transit system and that the city failed to get input from them while developing the project.