Merced compromises, finds room to fix south side road

A heavily traversed part of N Street in south Merced and an awkward intersection on Yosemite Avenue will both get fixes under a compromise reached by the City Council this week.

The council unanimously agreed to use the $876,000 in regional tax dollars to replace the cracked and uneven section of N Street between Childs Avenue and W. Eighth Street. Councilman Noah Lor abstained from the vote, noting that he lives near Yosemite Avenue.

In order to be able to fund the projects, the council decided to forgo work on a section of 15th Street and to scale back earlier plans to extend westbound lanes of Yosemite Avenue all the way to Highway 59.

Yosemite Avenue is four lanes until it reaches San Augustine Avenue, the last intersection while heading west to Highway 59. At San Augustine, westbound drivers must make an awkward turn through a four-way stop to continue on toward the highway.

The council initially planned to lengthen all of Yosemite because staffers said the intersection could be prone to car accidents. Instead, the council agreed to rework the westbound lanes at San Augustine in order to make it easier for drivers to merge onto the rest of Yosemite Avenue.

Engineer Theron Roschen, who is working with the city through a contract, said city staff worked out a compromise to give N Street a facelift and extend Yosemite across San Augustine. The idea is to get rid of the awkward jog for through traffic, but leave enough funding to complete the N Street work.

A number of south Merced neighborhoods approached the council during its Monday meeting to call for repairs to a roughly one-third mile stretch of N Street, which runs from Alicia Reyes Elementary to Tenaya Middle School and carries drivers to Golden Valley Health Center.

Ronnie de Anda, who lives in south Merced, said N Street’s repair is important because it could be a hazard to the children and families who walk to school. He pointed to poorly marked crosswalks as a safety concern.

This story was originally published August 17, 2016 at 4:16 PM with the headline "Merced compromises, finds room to fix south side road."