July, 2026

Bennett Valley Road Repairs 

Now Scheduled for 2027

By Craig S. Harrison

President, Save Our Sonoma Roads

Previously announced repairs for Bennett Valley Road during the 2026-2027 road funding cycle included projects on Bennett Valley Road from Walker Road to Old Bennett Ridge (1.3 miles) and Enterprise Road to Bridge 20C-219 over Yulupa Creek (1.1 miles). These repairs are now scheduled to take place in 2027. The Walker Road to Old Bennett Ridge Road project has been pared back to half its original length and now will fix only the portion from Walker Road to Mile Marker 16.74 (0.67 miles, full depth reclamation).

Supervisor Hermosillo has persuaded Public Infrastructure to spend $550,000 on overlay repairs to Sonoma Mountain Road between Mountain Meadow Lane and Enterprise Road (1.69 miles).

These are important improvements, but additional work is needed. The 1.6 mile stretch of Sonoma Mountain Road between Enterprise Road and Warm Springs Road is in such poor condition that in 2014 a county consultant concluded it had “no remaining useful life.” The condition of this stretch of Sonoma Mountain Road has severely deteriorated since 2014, with failed, depressed and sunken roadways, extensive large and dangerous potholes, and badly cracked roadsides. These conditions create hazards for vehicles, bicyclists, and pedestrians. The 0.63-mile stretch of Bennett Valley Road between Mile Marker 16.74 and Old Bennett Ridge Road remains in poor condition, and improving it would complete the rehabilitation of Bennett Valley Road.

We encourage Bennett Valley residents to support the continuing improvement of our roads by working with the BVCA and contacting Supervisor Hermosillo and Public Infrastructure.

Improving Bennett Valley Roads:
Two Decades of Slow Progress

The ongoing road improvements in Bennett Valley is an opportunity to reflect on how these took place. For years after Marina and I purchased our property in 1998 and built our home in 2001, Bennett Valley roads slowly deteriorated. After rainstorms, gaping potholes sprang up like mushrooms and driving was a challenge. Residents painted white circles around potholes, and orange safety cones appeared overnight in the middle of the larger craters. The only work the county did was to shovel steaming asphalt from the back of trucks into gaping potholes. Cars drove over the piles, tamping them down unevenly, adding to the bumpiness. I foolishly assumed that the county had a plan and would eventually repair our roads.

I joined the board of the Bennett Valley Community Association in 2006 with an interest in improving our local infrastructure. That October, I persuaded the BVCA to send a letter to Transportation and Public Works (now Public Works) to formally ask the county to fix Bennett Valley’s roads. This began my education in road repair funding. In the mid-1980s, the supervisors essentially stopped funding road maintenance. After 25 years of irresponsible management, the 1,370-mile county road system—the county’s most valuable asset—verged on collapse. Our pavement condition index ranked among the worst in California. Whenever I asked public officials about this I was told “there’s no money to fix our roads.” That was unacceptable.

Formation of Save Our Sonoma Roads (SOSroads). In autumn 2011, Michael Troy (a resident of Lichau Road in Penngrove) and I founded SOSroads with the motto “making roads a priority.” Our goal was to increase funding to improve all county roads. Bennett Valley residents Bill Finkelstein and Ken Adelson joined the board of directors.

When I told Transportation and Public Works Director Phil Demery about SOSroads, he responded that he was the happiest man in the county. He said that no resident or citizen group had ever attended a Board of Supervisors meeting to support his budget. We learned that SOSroads was the only grassroots organization in California that advocated for better roads.

We met with supervisors and Phil Demery to bolster the budget. We educated reporters and received favorable news and editorial support from the Press Democrat, Argus Courier, and Kenwood Press, who described SOSroads as a persistent gadfly organization. We wrote opinion pieces for local papers, and got the Wall Street Journal and Reuters to write about our pathetic roads. We organized road summits with public officials, began a newsletter to motivate residents to get involved, and attended budget hearings.

SOSroads has been a success. The Board of Supervisors began increasing its contributions to pavement preservation in 2012, and soon thereafter developed a long-term strategy for roads. Sonoma County now contributes more of its general funds to pavement preservation than any other county in California. It also receives substantial gas tax funding from SB 1, which voters approved in 2017. All supervisors have supported this project, especially David Rabbitt. Public Infrastructure has always been professional and supportive. According to county officials, when the 2026-27 program is completed 568 miles of roads (41%) will have been improved since 2012. The following describes the improvements in Bennett Valley. 

All of Bennett Valley Road is part of the county’s 200-mile primary road system, and is the only east-west corridor between Highway 12 and Old Adobe Road-Stage Gulch Road. It is about 7.4 miles long between Warm Springs Road and the Santa Rosa City limit. At the BVCA’s request, in 2011 the county included the 5.7 mile stretch between Warm Springs Road and Sonoma Mountain Road in the primary road system. Public Infrastructure has implemented or planned four projects to improve most of Bennett Valley Road to almost new condition, and additional repairs are scheduled for 2027:

• August 2011 Grange Road to Yulupa Avenue (2 miles; federal economic stimulus funds).

• July 2013 Grange Road to Old Bennett Ridge Road (2.9 miles, chip seal). 

• September 2014 Warm Springs Road to Old Bennett Ridge Road (2.5 miles, bonding wearing course). 

• October 2022 Grange Road to Walker Road (1.6 miles, bonding wearing course)

• 2027 Walker Road to Mile Marker 16.74 (0.67 miles, full depth reclamation) and Enterprise Road to Bridge 20C-219 over Yulupa Creek (1.1 miles).

The County has designated Grange Road—Crane Canyon Road as a primary road, which is about 3.8 miles in length. Since 2018 the entire road has been improved with a full depth reclamation process so that it is in like new condition:

• October 2018 Guenza/Peracca roads to Inverness Avenue (2 miles). 

• October 2020 Grange Road to Guenza/Peracca roads (1.3 miles).

• September 2022 Inverness Avenue to Petaluma Hill Road (0.5 mile).

Sonoma County has designated Sonoma Mountain Road a significant rural road by. Its 7.7 miles travels in a horseshoe between Bennett Valley Road and Warm Springs Road. It was twice voted the worst road in Sonoma County in Press Democrat contests, and in 2013 over 550 residents signed a petition to fix it. The county has brought about 4.4 miles of this road to a very good condition and additional repairs are scheduled for 2027:

• June 2014 Bennett Valley Road to Pressley Road (2.2 miles). 

• October 2018 Pressley Road to Sonoma Ridge Road (1.0 mile).

• July 2024 Sonoma Ridge Road to Mountain Meadow Lane (1.2 miles)

• 2027 Mountain Meadow Lane to Enterprise Road (1.69 miles, overlay)

Pressley Road—Roberts Road are designated significant rural roads, and span about 4.3 miles between Petaluma Hill Road and Sonoma Mountain Road. During July 2015, county crews replaced culverts, performed grinding, patching and crack sealing the road base before the roads were chip sealed in August. 

Old Bennett Ridge Road, Bardy Road, Rollo Road, and Bennett Ridge Road were refurbished in 2025 using funds from the county’s settlement with Pacific Gas & Electric for the 2017 Nuns Fire. They are now in spectacular shape.

Additional Improvements Needed. The 1.6 mile stretch of Sonoma Mountain Road between Enterprise Road and Warm Springs Road is in such poor condition that in 2014 a county consultant concluded it had “no remaining useful life.” In fact, the condition of this stretch of Sonoma Mountain Road has severely deteriorated since 2014, with failed, depressed and sunken roadways, extensive large and dangerous potholes, and badly cracked roadsides. These conditions create hazards for vehicles, bicyclists, and pedestrians. The 0.63-mile stretch of Bennett Valley Road between Mile Marker 16.74 and Old Bennett Ridge Road remains in poor condition, and improving it would complete the rehabilitation of Bennett Valley Road. Pressley Road—Roberts Road still need more work.

We encourage Bennett Valley residents to support the continuing improvement of our roads by working with the BVCA and contacting Supervisor Hermosillo and Public Infrastructure. In many ways, maintaining our roads is a never-ending project.