East Bay crews work to fix roads ahead of next storm

Every second of sunshine counted for public works crews in Contra Costa County on Thursday as they struggle to patch up as many potholes as possible before the rain returns.

“As they keep getting closer to the big storm, we were just on our way,” said Chris Lau of Contra Costa County Public Works.

Lau is in charge of the Maintenance Department of the District Department of Public Works.

Lau said roads usually deteriorate with winter storms. But this time, he is seeing an even bigger spike in traffic problems as the storms have been almost relentless.

This is especially a problem in rural areas with old roads, such as many of the roads in Byron.

“This time we will see more problems because there is such a large volume of water flowing down, everything is getting wetter, there will be potholes,” Lau said. It is clear that the new potholes have attracted the attention of residents.

“The roads are much worse, there are a lot more potholes, which is very bad for a bike, especially for a sport bike,” said Brentwood’s Noah Masry.

“I have low profile tires on my car. So if I hit them, I hope I’m lucky and they don’t burst,” said Oakley resident Jill Bilches.

In Lafayette, city crews laid boulders along a section of St. Mary’s Road to temporarily stabilize an embankment that had been eroded by rain.

Just like the brigades in the eastern part of the district, they are in a hurry to do everything while the weather is dry.

More permanent work will include the creation of a retaining wall and rock flow to stabilize this embankment.