“Dear Red Phone, With new building of homes (Dunne, Calle Mazatan and other areas), the builders tear up the road to put in services. These are not minor tear ups. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem that they are made to restore the streets to the original state?! Potholes start happening, the road is uneven and now “open” to problems and never look the same. What is required of the builder in that regard after our tax money paid for nice original roads, which we should expect. Thanks!”
Dear Particularly Interested in Potholes, According to the city: Anytime a contractor does utility work in a city street they are required to repair the pavement and the under laying street section per specific standards. Scott Creer, senor civil engineer with the City of Morgan Hill looked into the issue. He said, “These standards were put into place to help minimize the effects that underground utility installation or repair work can have on city streets. In cases where a land development project proposes to dig several utility trenches in an existing street, the City will require that the project overlay the entire street section prior to completion of the project.
“This is the case with many of the residential projects currently under construction within the City. This includes the new homes being built on Calle Mazatan where both Calle Mazatan and East Central Avenue will be overlayed given the extensive utility work in both streets,” Creer said.
Plans for Uvas Park Drive?
“Dear Red Phone, Are there any plans for Uvas Park Drive to be built between Wren Ave and Laurel Drive? It has been on the maps for years and would take a lot of traffic off of Wren Avenue and Third Avenue and the surrounding neighborhoods.”
Dear Traffic Weary on Third, The good news is that there are plans according to Rick Smelser, Gilroy City Engineer: “The project is in the City Circulation Master Plan but no construction plans have been drawn up yet. There are hundreds of street segment projects in the master plan. This project timeline is well past 2030.” The bad news is that it’s not planned to happen anytime soon. Of course you could always get the neighbors together and start a petition and bring that before the City Council.
