By now, anybody who’s driven through Paradise has experienced some form of road work, whether that’s undergrounding of utilities, repaving, or other types of construction. As the Town continues to rebuild, these are great signs of future growth and development—even if it slows down our morning commutes by a few minutes! Roads are one of the biggest recovery focuses outlined by residents in the Long Term Recovery Plan, and it’s a significant priority in the regrowth of the Town.
Below, we explain a few of the bigger roadway projects you can expect to see over the next few years:
The fire and subsequent hazard tree and debris removal process dramatically damaged the roadways throughout Paradise. The high heat from the fire and the heavy debris and tree removal trucks caused extensive cracking, potholes, and erosion.
Thanks to FEMA and the Federal Highway Administration, the Town now has 93 million in grants to repave every public road in Paradise by 2025!
Road repairs have already begun on Skyway, from the Town limits up to Holiday Market, and we’ve put together this color-coded real-time map to indicate the year in which public roads are scheduled to be paved.
- Purple: 2022
- Teal: 2023
- Orange: 2024
- Green: 2025
If you’re curious when your road is going to be repaved or want to anticipate rerouting your drives through Town, you can find this map on the Town website, along with an alphabetical list of roads and the anticipated year for paving. The map and list will be updated as the best information becomes available. Roadways and paving years are subject to change and will change based on roadway-specific issues or developments.
Click here or on the image below to view the map.
“We’re now the only town in California with a plan to fully fund our roads, “ said Marc Mattox, Public Works Director & Town Engineer. “We’re going to have the best roads in the state!”
Undergrounding utilities such as internet and phone lines will provide residents and businesses with stronger, lightning-fast connections, less disruption of service, and improved communication. It will also provide a safer infrastructure for service distribution.
“The Town of Paradise is undergoing one of the largest infrastructure transformations as it relates to utilities,” said Mattox. “They’ll all be underground by 2025.”
To underground the utilities, there will be necessary roadwork and traffic stops. To better plan for these traffic diversions, you can use this ongoing traffic control map to plan for the day-to-day locations of Town work, PID, Comast, AT&T, PG&E, and other utility providers will be working. The map is live and will be updated each week, but do keep in mind that the information shown on this map is subject to change and may not be all-inclusive of actual work on a given day. Click here or on the image below to view the map.
Emergency Preparedness:
During wildfire season, the Town is taking several measures to prepare for any evacuation, if needed.
- Responsive work: During red flag days when there is extreme fire danger, contractors will be flexible with the work plans and not do any high-risk work on those days.
- Quick clean-up: In case of emergency, all construction and road workers will have requirements to clean up any traffic work immediately to allow for evacuation.
To accomplish measures like this, all contractors will be going through extensive training to be as responsive as possible. “Community safety is top of mind,” said Mattox.
“We appreciate your patience and willingness to drive slowly in traffic areas to keep workers safe. Hang with us. we have a lot of good things to come!”
Click here to listen to Marc Mattox speak more about the road work in Paradise.
P.S. If you’ve made the drive between Chico and Paradise, you’ll notice Skyway is getting repaved as well! A big thanks to the county for improving this commute corridor!
