Despite completion of project, Country Club issues continue.
It’s a $14 million road project that’s taken over five years since the start of the planning stage, and although the city engineer says it’s now complete others say it’s not!
ABC-7 revisited the reconstruction of Country Club Road in the Upper Valley, where issues continue to plague residents and drivers in that area.
Residents continue to complain about bright lighting, which they say is not dark skies compliant, and the intersection at Love Road, which some say shows no love for drivers trying to negotiate it.
“It’s just too much light for the evening,” said Carol Miller, president of the Upper Valley Neighborhood Association. “This is a country neighborhood. It’s not a downtown city street. So we don’t need lighting like that. I don’t know why they want it to look like Las Vegas.”
The other major issue is at this intersection at Love Road.
“The way they have it set up now, it’s very dangerous getting in and out of there,” said Upper Valley resident Wayne Lyn Segotta. “actually, I think it causes more traffic problems than it did before.”
City Rep. Cortney Niland represents the area.
“This project actually began its design phases under my predecessor, ” Niland said. “So this has been a very long extensive project, one in which we would like to bring to close. We’re working to make sure that the lights that were installed are actually dark sky compliant. At this particular time, there’s been questions about whether they actually are.”
City civil engineer Geoffrey Spineli, who was in charge of the Country Club makeover, said the lighting fix has already been made.
“We replaced the glass top of the lighting,” Spineli said. “So basically, the new top has some shielding on top of it that complies with the dark sky ordinance and we completed that work back in October of last year.”
Espineli said fixing Love Road is a separate project that will require possible land acquisition.
“There will be some room for geometric improvements,” Spineli said, “if we got that small portion of land in the corner.”
One resident told ABC-7 the lights are still so bright she’s installed blackout curtains in her home.
Espineli told ABC-7 he considers the project complete, although a fix at Love Road could be to come.
