Walnut Creek council awards Ygnacio Valley Road repair contract, approves ongoing sidewalk trip‑hazard program

The Walnut Creek City Council on Feb. 4 voted unanimously to award a contract to MCK Services Incorporated for base repairs and re‑striping on Ygnacio Valley Road and to enter a public‑works agreement with Precision LLC to continue the city’s sidewalk trip‑hazard mitigation program.

Council members approved the measures on roll call votes that were 5‑0 for both actions.

The contracts are intended to address recurring pavement failures and pedestrian safety. Rich Payne, Walnut Creek’s public works director, said the sidewalk program — delivered in partnership with a private contractor the city identifies as Precision — divides the city into three sections and cycles through them every three years, and that downtown receives an annual pass before the holiday season. “The program has been definitely a success...we have a lot of success and we've seen a dramatic reduction in trip and fall cases,” Payne told the council.

City Engineer Smidar Boardman described the Ygnacio Valley Road work as two distinct treatments. On the section between San Carlos Drive (near Heather Farm Park) and Oak Grove the city will install a yellow stripe adjacent to the median and replace older lane‑demarcation “pucks” with the newer Caltrans standard reflective striping to improve nighttime and wet‑weather visibility. Boardman said the stripe treatments also narrow lanes slightly to help slow traffic. “We're going with the newer Caltrans standard, which is lighter and brighter and more reflective,” he said.

East of Oak Grove, crews will focus on base repairs where the pavement shows structural failure rather than a full reconstruction of the corridor. Boardman said the work will be limited to short stretches of roadway “so it's not redoing the pavement of everything” and is intended to reduce failures ahead of a planned future paving project for which design work is slated in 2026.

To address unsafe right‑turn/U‑turn maneuvers on a downhill portion of the route, the city will test a short‑term physical treatment described by Boardman as a “tough curb”: a small raised element with a tall delineator designed to deter illegal U‑turns. “It's actually just kind of this physical vertical barrier...it would restrict people from being able to make a u‑turn,” Boardman said, adding the material is similar to treatments used nearby in Concord.

Council and staff told residents the city aims to start the Ygnacio work in late spring or early summer, weather permitting, and that the construction period for the awarded contract is about one month, subject to contractor scheduling. The project team said it will provide advance notice to neighbors and use city communication channels including Nextdoor and social media.

On sidewalks, Payne said the city’s maintenance crews will respond to reported trip hazards within 24 hours to provide a temporary mitigation and then schedule a permanent repair. Residents can report hazards to the Public Works Department at (925) 943‑5854. Payne described the Precision contract as a continuation of a program that uses an asphalt shaving technique and other targeted repairs rather than wholesale sidewalk replacement.

Votes at a glance: A–D (consent) — approved, roll call 5–0; Consent item E (public works agreement with Precision LLC for sidewalk hazard mitigation) — approved, roll call 5–0; Item 2f (award contract 24‑12 to MCK Services Incorporated for Ygnacio Valley Road base failure repair and re‑striping) — approved, roll call 5–0.

The council did not take any additional action on the items beyond awarding the contracts; staff will administer notifications and scheduling and return to council or file appropriate reports as required by city procedures.