A handful of residents living on and around Parsons Avenue voiced concerns about a project that would add a missing piece of road near Ada Givens School.
The worried residents vented Tuesday night at the Merced City Council meeting.
Calling it a "road to nowhere," they asked the Merced City Council to reject the proposal. The council was going to consider accepting state grant funds that would help extend Parsons Avenue along Ada Givens School and park. It voted 4-3 to refer the item back to staff, determine the status and map the affected areas, and also gain the school district's input. Council members Tony Dossetti, Mike Murphy and Noah Lor voted in opposition.
The construction would mean drivers could travel north to South East Bear Creek Drive to get to G Street instead of going through the neighborhood, according to Daryl Jordan, city engineer.
The project would cost $800,000, according to council documents. The grants from a state program total $400,000. The city appropriated $470,000 in matching funds from the Regional Surface Transportation Funds program for road improvements, according to council documents.
Tom McCall, who spoke at the meeting, asked the council if the project was a No. 1 priority in fixing traffic issues in Merced. "My answer is 'no,' because without a bridge, it goes nowhere," he said. "Without a railroad crossing, it goes nowhere."
Two challenges of the Parsons Avenue project are building a bridge to cross Bear Creek and either an underpass or overpass at the BNSF Railway tracks at Santa Fe Avenue, according to Jordan. He said those were two major obstacles still in the plan for the corridor. "Over the last 40 years, as different segments have become available, the city has been building on it," Jordan said.
McCall and others who live on and around Parsons Avenue said they're concerned about the tax dollars being spent on the project. They all asked the council to reject the project, saying the city would lose $400,000 of its matching funds on it. Others were concerned it would create more traffic in the area.
McCall also asked if the money could be used for other purposes. "In Merced, at least a third or half the streets need to be repaved," he said.
Jordan said the $470,000 could be used on different projects, but not on all streets. The money would have to be used on larger streets in town like Parsons Avenue, according to Jordan.
Mayor Stan Thurston said he could think of other uses for the $470,000, but most of them were for neighborhood streets that needed work done on them, which wouldn't count because they weren't arterial roadways. He said the residents presented a very "common sense" presentation, but the city was already deep into the plan.
"This, by itself, it's so ludicrous. When you put it into the master plan of north to south (for the whole project), it makes sense," he said.
Reporter Ameera Butt can be reached at (209) 385-2477 or abutt@mercedsunstar.com.
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