MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Caltrans is planning a community meeting next week to discuss a paving project along two local highways as well as safety measures at a south county intersection that has been the scene of two fatal crashes in just over a year.

Caltrans is partnering with the Middletown Area Town Hall – or MATH – to host the meeting, which will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 19, at the Calpine Geothermal Visitor Center, located at 15500 Central Park Road.

Caltrans Area Construction Engineer Alan Escarda and other Caltrans representatives, along with paving contractor Granite Construction, will meet with the group, according to announcements from MATH Director Mike Tabacchi and Caltrans spokesman Phil Frisbie.

The meeting will focus on a multimillion dollar paving project on Highway 29 and Highway 175 as well as safety concerns at the intersection of Highway 29 and Hartmann Road.

Regarding the intersection, a Caltrans safety improvement project is under way there now.

The agency is installing flashing beacons to alert drivers traveling along Highway 29 of cross traffic.

A Clearlake woman died there last month after she was broadsided by a semi truck while attempting to turn onto Highway 29. In May of 2010 an elderly Rodeo woman died after the vehicle she was riding in was hit, also while pulling onto Highway 29, as Lake County News has reported.

Also a topic of concern for south county residents is the paving project.

Last year Caltrans paid International Surfacing Systems $2.1 million to complete chip sealing on 12 miles of Highway 29 from the Lake/Napa County lines to the Coyote Creek Bridge and 8.5 miles on Highway 175 from Cobb to Middletown.

A larger aggregate was used, with the result being that area residents questioned the roadway's safety and the wear and tear on their vehicles, sentiments they expressed at a special town hall with Caltrans last October.

Caltrans District 1 Director Charlie Fielder pledged at the time to have the area resurfaced, and in March the California Transportation Commission approved $13.3 million to repave that area as well as to improve portions of Highways 175 from 4.9 miles east of the Lake/Mendocino County line to the junction of Highways 175 and 29 near Lakeport, and near Kelseyville from the junction of Highways 175 and 29 to Middletown.

The repaving project is scheduled to start in August, Caltrans said.

In his announcement on the meeting Tabacchi said MATH wanted to acknowledge how responsive Caltrans has been to the community's concerns over the past year.

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