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Napa Valley Register - Feds grant $2.4 million for Green Island Road rebuild

August 25, 2015
News Articles

Noel Brinkerhoff

The city of American Canyon will receive more than $2 million from the U.S. government to help it rebuild Green Island Road, federal officials announced Tuesday.

The $2.4 million grant from the Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA) will go toward the repaving and widening of the heavily-used corridor through the city's industrial region.

Green Island Road has been falling apart for years due to a high volume of traffic, including the frequency of big rigs traveling in and out of warehouses and manufacturing businesses.

The city estimates it will cost $11.6 million to complete the project, which calls for adding a third lane, reconstructing the existing lanes to make them better withstand the constant flow of cars and trucks, adding sidewalks and gutters along the road, and repaving some secondary roads that connect to it.

Business owners in the Green Island Industrial District have complained to city officials about repairing the roadway, and some have even threatened to pull out of American Canyon if the work is not performed, according to Rep Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, who helped secure the EDA grant.

"The best thing we can do to grow our economy is to invest in rebuilding our roads, overpasses and bridges – and these funds show it," said Thompson in a news release. "Not only will this project put people to work in construction, it will support hundreds of other jobs and businesses in the Green Island Industrial District that may have otherwise left if infrastructure improvements were not made."

City Manager Dana Shigley was happy to learn of the federal funding, while also noting the city's struggle to "keep up" with infrastructure needs in the Green Island area.

American Canyon "has been working with the business owners in the Green Island industrial area to find solutions, and this grant is exactly what we needed to make it happen," said Shigley. "This grant, along with local tax dollars and funding from the property owners, will allow us to upgrade the utility and streets so the area can continue to prosper and businesses can grow."

City leaders have been talking to Green Island businesses to gain their support for paying some of the construction cost. The idea of creating an assessment district to raise some of the millions of dollars needed has been floated, but no decision yet has been made, said Public Works Director Jason Holley, who oversees the project.

"In addition to the EDA funding, we anticipate using other local funding sources, such as traffic impact fees and potentially other state or federal grant funding," said Holley in an email. "Until all of the outside funding amounts are finalized, we aren't able to say for sure how much assessment district funding is needed nor how much it would cost each property owner."

Issues:Jobs & Economy