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Fortuna council selects roundabout for Kenmar–Ross Hill intersection, directs staff to pursue funding
Summary
After reviewing three design alternatives, Fortuna City Council voted unanimously to pursue a roundabout at the Kenmar–Ross Hill intersection and directed staff to seek funding and advance project approval and environmental work.
Fortuna City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to pursue converting the Kenmar–Ross Hill Road intersection to a roundabout and to direct city staff to pursue funding and the next design phase.
Council members said the roundabout best addresses current traffic delays, accommodates bicycle and pedestrian connections and scales for potential future development near the mill site. Mayor Mark Johnson, who participated in discussion of the project, said, “It looks to me like the roundabout is the way to go.”
City staff presented three alternatives developed in preliminary engineering: a low‑cost signal retrofit (about $2.9 million), a full new signalized intersection (about $12.6 million) and a roundabout (about $8.7 million). Staff said the retrofit would provide limited improvement and a 20–30 year design life, the full signal rebuild would cost the most and provide modest performance gains, and the roundabout would produce the best traffic throughput and safety performance, with a design life effectively longer than the other alternatives.
The presentation reviewed current levels of service at the intersection, noting all legs operate at poor levels (D–E) and that signal changes alone would not meet the city’s General Plan LOS targets. Staff also told the council that a previously interested mill‑site buyer had withdrawn because of access uncertainty, and that future mill‑site development could increase demand on the Kenmar–Ross Hill intersection. Staff and the traffic engineering consultant, GHD, said a roundabout could be designed to accommodate an additional leg to serve that site, although that option would need more detailed design and creek‑corridor considerations.
Council members and residents raised construction‑phase questions, including how Caltrans and temporary traffic control would manage freeway exit flows. Staff said those details would be addressed in later phases, once the city reaches project approval and environmental documents (PAED) and advances toward 30% design. Staff estimated the PAED phase costs could be “less than a half‑million dollars” and described a strategy of developing a shovel‑ready project to improve competitiveness for state and federal grants.
Multiple public speakers—residents who regularly drive the corridor and a volunteer firefighter—urged the council to choose the roundabout, citing safety concerns and congested queuing on and off U.S. 101. After public comment, a council member moved to pursue the roundabout alternative; the motion passed with all five council members voting “aye.”
Council directed staff to continue coordination with Caltrans and to pursue funding for PAED and subsequent design phases to position the project for grant opportunities and to avoid traffic bottlenecks when the Kenmar interchange project advances.
The council did not set a construction schedule. Staff said the city intends to move forward with PAED and 30% design and will return with scope and cost estimates for those phases.
