Federal stimulus dollars at work along Civic Drive

Kevin Collins, the principal at Walnut Creek Intermediate, had warned parents that pickup and drop-off of students along North Civic Drive would be tricky this week. What with road improvement projects, funded, yes, by federal money designed to kick-start our region and our nation's flagging economy.


It wasn't so bad dropping my son off Monday morning, but things were trickier on Monday afternoon. In the afternoons, we usually meet at the 7-Eleven at North Civic and Pine Street, but construction crews had blocked off the left turn onto Pine, which I needed to take to get into the 7-Eleven parking lot. Left turns had been blocked off for much of North Civic and Oak Road, as crews did repaving and other work along this thoroughfare.

Much of the stretch of Civic Drive, at least from Locust Street to Walden Road, is crowded with crews and signs and cones and closed lanes. It looks like this will disruption will be going on through Friday.

The money for this resurfacing work comes from the $1.6 million Walnut Creek received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The project also involves bringing the thoroughfare up to code with the American With Disabilities Act.