Construction on Ukiah’s Gobbi Street starts Tuesday

UKIAH CA., 8/31/24 — Sewer lines are being replaced on Gobbi Street east of State Street in Ukiah, and drivers and commuters can anticipate that traffic will be a mess. The work will start at Orchard Street and progress westward to State Street. Some areas may have one-block closures, some blocks may be westbound only, and the MTA northbound bus may have difficulty accessing stops at the Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op, Orchard Plaza, Social Security office, the Ukiah Post Office, and other businesses.

How long will the headache last? By email, Ukiah Deputy City Manager Shannon Riley explained why that burning question is hard to answer. Riley said that there are a lot of utility lines buried under Gobbi Street, some of them “roughly 100 years old.” The contractors doing the work won’t know what they’ll encounter until they open up the area, and then it may be necessary for subcontractors to deal with what they discover. Weather may throw in another monkey wrench. Some parts of the job can be done in rainy weather while other parts cannot. All this puts a lot of ifs on a vital project that inevitably will cause plenty of disruption.