The Pole Line Road Overcrossing
Years before the toad tunnel was incorporated into the Pole Line Road overcrossing project, another debate was brewing over the placement of the overcrossing itself. "Normally, controversies over interchanges, overpasses and underpasses would at most merit passing mention in a community's history. ... [However,] few cities would debate where a new freeway overpass should be built for several years, then have the electorate decide the location." (Growing Pains, Ch. 8). As early as 40 years ago, Yolo County's master plan called for the construction of a third interchange at Interstate 80 between what was then a two-lane Richards Blvd. interchange near downtown and the two-lane Mace Blvd. interchange located east of what was then the city limits. Preliminary plans called for the interchange to be constructed at Road 103 (now Drummond Ave.); these plans moved a step closer to reality when the City Council added this project to the city's priority list of transportation improvement projects in 1982. Thus began another decade of debates in the minds of debate-weary Davis residents.
In 1984, a consultant firm hired by the City of Davis recommended the construction of the new overpass over Interstate 80 at Pole Line Road, a recommendation that was accepted by the City Council in 1985. As a result, a NIMBY-ish (not in my backyard) battle erupted between neighborhoods. Both East Davis and South Davis residents feared the additional traffic that would result if the overpass were built in their neighborhoods. By 1993, following several years of meetings and debates, and an 1988 failed referendum by East Davis residents to move the overcrossing further to the east, it appeared now that the overcrossing would finally get built.
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Enter Julie Partansky Davis mayor Julie Partansky, whose term expires this year, was originally elected to the Davis City Council in 1992 and re-elected in 1996. She has been a resident of Davis since her graduation from UC Davis with a B.A. in Art in 1970. "Partansky was an unusual political figure, an artist with a utopian view of the world who critics contended was politically naive and eccentric..." (Growing Pains, Ch. 10). Julie Partansky, a political novice, baffled political observers on her election to the City Council in 1992 on a campaign platform that opposed the paving of downtown alleyways. "Save the historic potholes," was the critics' sarcastic bent on her campaign platform. |
A year later, Julie Partansky would announce her support for the addition of a $14,000 toad tunnel to the Pole Line Road overcrossing project.
On May 7, 1995, the City of Davis broke ground on the $6.9 million Pole Line Road overcrossing (and toad tunnel).
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