YUBA COUNTY, CA (MPG) - The Yuba County Public Works project that aimed to create safer travel for students and pedestrians along Garden Avenue was recognized for Project of the Year (in the Transportation category) by the Sacramento chapter of American Public Works Association (APWA). 

The Garden Avenue Safe Routes to School (SRTS) project included the construction of sidewalks, bike lanes, crosswalks, curbs, gutters, storm drains and ADA-compliant ramps. Construction began in summer 2024 and was completed this spring.

“For years, Yuba County has been working to improve road safety and pedestrian access,” Yuba County Public Works Director Sam Bunton said. “This road reconstruction project complements nearby recent and future projects for better connectivity and safety for our community.”

This project, which spanned from Feather River Boulevard to the levee at Riverside Drive, serves the overall neighborhoods and students attending nearby Cedar Lane Elementary, where roadside ditches and power poles once forced pedestrians into the travel lane.

Past Yuba County Safe Routes to School projects include Cedar Lane and McGowan Parkway completed in 2023 and 11th Avenue in 2021.

Next up on Public Works’ Garden Avenue Safe Routes to School list includes Linda and Dunning avenues as well as the West Linda Safe Routes to School project. Other improvements in West Linda include the Feather River Blvd. State of Good Repair (started this spring), and Friendship Park Beautification Project (aiming to start construction this fall).

This $3.9-million Garden Avenue project was funded as part of the $2.27-million grant from the California Transportation Commission, with $2.75 million in local cost-share funding from the Yuba Water Agency.

The award recognizes projects that demonstrate excellent management, administration, design, sustainability, construction and the strong alliance among the various agencies who worked together to complete the project, according to the American Public Works Association.