Over the last two nights, commuters using Vasco Road have been hit with unexpected delays as construction crews worked on road improvements with little to warning.
According to Kevin Emigh, Design Construction Division Manager, the construction will continue through Friday. The county is working to complete a Countywide Overlay Project which is occurring at 3-locations which includes Vasco Road. The project is Federally Funded at $2.8 million.
Tonight, road crews will be grinding out two-inches of old asphalt and replacing it with a new layer of rubberized asphalt. On Thursday and Friday, they will be repaving the roadway.
The construction is occurring on Vasco at Walnut through Camino Diablo to about a ½ mile south of the intersection.
Construction Schedule:
- Sept. 16 – 8:30 pm to 5:30 am
- Sept. 17 – 8:00 pm to 5:30am
- Sept. 18 – 8:00 pm to 5:30am
Lack of Communication
Supervisor Mary Piepho stated Wednesday that the lack of communication from the county to the public and commuters is not acceptable and they will be working to fix that in the future.
Piepho herself, was unaware of the construction and was stuck on Vasco Tuesday night for more than 3-hours thinking there may have been a traffic accident. She was sympathetic to commuters.
“I am embarrassed and it’s unacceptable to commuters” said Piepho. “There has to be better communication by public works to the community. We are working on fixing the communication issues.”
Emigh stated he owned the mistake because the contractor agreed to night construction and thought the time would alleviate traffic congestion.
“Obviously there was not enough communication. Last week, they put out message boards after the contractor took the option to do night paving which we thought would mitigate traffic issues which was under estimated,” explained Emigh. “Tonight, we are doing a moving closure. Keep it as close to the actual closure.”
Emigh did warn commuters that it would be best to avoid the area because it will still be “bad”. He suggest taking an alternate route home because delays are expected. Message boards have also been moved to warn drivers earlier in their commute over Vasco.
Although traffic flow will be tweaked tonight, Amy warns it will still be bad. If they can take an alternate route, they are encouraged to do so because there will be delays.
14 comments
This is ridiculous. There’s been signs posted for several days. Pay attention to what’s posted and you’ll know. Why not focus on widening the road so people aren’t spending over an hour trying to get into and from Livermore each day.
Monday it started at 6pm. 6! I truly hope the 8:30 times above are PST and not Central!!
The commute starts well before 0530. They should be ending no later than 0400.
I was stuck for hours after working late and did not know about the work being done at all! The crews should have let larger chunks of traffic through on the side with the most traffic. Instead, I saw the opposite side (heading TOWARD Livermore) being allowed through nonstop while hundreds of cars piled up on the side I was on. This was not cool. NOT COOL and I called 911 to ask that they send a professional patrol officer who knew how to direct traffic. I lost time, could not get to bed on time to get up for an early meeting (I commute to Santa Clara from Discovery Bay everyday). This was quite an irritation for me and countless others who came home at that hour (I should have been home at 9:10 PM after leaving Santa Clara around 8 P.M. and instead got home at 11 P.M.).
@ [email protected], Wait, what??? You “called 911” because you were “irritated” and stuck in road construction? Holy crap. 911 is for emergencies. Thanks pal, next time please be a little more responsible. Emergency services are already compromised enough out here without people like you tying up the emergency line because you are inconvenienced.
You may have “lost time” but by your actions, someone else who was having an actual emergency could have lost a life. SMH
Came through at midnight last night. What a freeking mess and it will NOT be finished by Friday is my bet. Why did it even need it? Don’t think it did. Typical Contra Costa County. Thanks a whole lot Mary.
So many roads like Camino Diablo need fixing instead of this part of Vasco dressing up that didn’t need it. More waste from the county. Widen Vasco before waste on asphalt beautification.
Hey, JS- why don’t you stop running your mouth here, pull over and ask the workers on Vasco if they are just “dressing up the road” (and you don’t think it needed it).
Yeah, that will work. You and Julio can school them. You two are classic!
Hey julio, quitcherbtchen. You sound like an old man.
This morning they were still blocking traffic at 7:30am. Vasco sucks and so does the BOS for making a road too small and allowing growth too fast before widening it.
JS, still posting BS? The growth in east county is almost 100 percent attributable to the cities (Brentwood, Oakley and Antioch). You should be venting your anger issues on the Brentwood, Oakley and Antioch city councils. Or better yet all of your neighbors that have moved here for the same reasons that you did, but are clogging up YOUR roadway. I doubt you will get far, but hey, it’s a start.
I’ll wager you missed the maintenance work that is also going on, on Camino Diablo? Good to know you are blind as well as dumb. Oh, and by the way, where did you and Julio get your road engineering degrees? .
The BoS doesn’t “make roads”; traffic engineers and public works does.
As for me, I’m please that the county is keeping up on the maintenance of the most used roads in east county.
BWood,
Still rebutting with BS ? The county controls county roads. Maybe you were not notified. We have terrible roads in the county. The county needs comprehensive annual road upgrade projects and not crack repair. A billion dollar budget and the best the BOS can do is double dip on perks. Wow your genius is showing B Wood
B-wood. The BOS still runs the show and are responsible for everything. Mary “didn’t know what was going on?” Why not? Glad to see you are still posting B-wood. Always enjoy your sage advice.
Julio, Julio, Julio…. You sound a tad stuck on stubborn, if not denial. Please allow me to clarify it for you. For the record, you wrote; “…it will NOT be finished by Friday is my bet. Why did it even need it? Don’t think it did. Typical Contra Costa County. Thanks a whole lot Mary.”
I responded in part that YOU are by no means a traffic or roadway engineer. Nor is the oversight or day to day operations of roadway maintence the immediate responsibility of any county supervisor. There are hundreds of miles of county roadway within the county and even an entire county department dedicated to the oversight of those operations. 5 supervisors (including Mary) don’t ride shotgun on those efforts, nor should they. But that was all lost on you as was my rhetorical question about the origins of your engineering degree.
Obviously qualified roadway engineers and an entire public works department felt the road needed repair and maintenance. Sorry you didn’t agree with those who are paid, educated and charged with such responsibilities.
Speaking of responsibilities…
Now you reply that somehow a county supervisor should micro manage road projects? “Mary didn’t know what was going on? Why not?” My goodness man, are you you kidding? Is that what you actually believe county supervisors do or were you just projecting? Do you know what their responsibilities entail? Obviously, you don’t, because it’s all about blame judging by the flavor of your postings.
Julio, just like you, I follow your posts. Just a short time ago, you were first in line to complain about the supervisors pay…. Funny because now, you write “the BOS still runs the show, and are RESPONSIBLE for EVERYTHING”. Do you know what a double standard that is or have you created your own justification for that too? A bit of an Irony coming from you Julio. Don’t shoot the messenger, for I just pointed out the obvious. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to do so, once again.
Enjoy!
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