LAKEPORT – If you've been noticing a lot of rocks coming off a stretch of Highway 29 north of Lakeport, you're not alone.

For more than a month local residents have been reporting rocks flying off of Highway 29 – from about the Highway 175 turnoff to the Hopland Grade and as far north as Hill Road – which has resulted in damaged windshields and dents on vehicles.

As a result Caltrans is reporting that it's planning a repaving project to fix the damaged roadway.

Agency spokesman Phil Frisbie said they've received calls from the public about the roadway's condition.

Frisbie said the cooler weather caused the top layer of asphalt to deteriorate, resulting in the flying rocks.

Last week Caltrans secured funding for an emergency paving project, Frisbie said.

They've been allocated about $4 million from a special fund that's used each year to address unforeseen problems with roads, he explained.

“We're planning on repaving approximately eight miles of the highway near Lakeport,” he said. “That should be happening this spring or summer.”

They're moving forward with preparing the project's specifications, which Frisbie said will allow them to put the project out to bid.

The funds are allowing Caltrans to move forward quickly on the project, which Frisbie said normally would take several years to complete.

In the mean time, they've stepped up their highway sweeping schedule, with maintenance crews trying to sweep the highways about twice a week, Frisbie said.

Crews were in evidence along that stretch of highway last week.

“Our phone calls have been decreasing since our maintenance people have been out there,” he said.

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