From City Council member Scott Alvord...

Drum roll please… The next biggest announcement for western Roseville is the upcoming connection of Blue Oaks Blvd to Westbrook Blvd. It’s happening even sooner than we thought as of a few months back! Yes, it is NOW scheduled to be completed THIS YEAR, 2019! This project went from “many years away,” then to “happening before the high school opens in the fall of 2020,” and now, that’s right, the end of 2019!!!

WHY suddenly so fast, you ask? There are two reasons why. You will want to reference the attached hand-drawn map with pink, blue and green lines on it. I traced the map but added the colored lines to explain what is happening.

Reason #1: Anthem, the developer of the Creekview Specific Plan (I’ve included pictures of their high-level development plan) decided they want to start building homes by the summer of 2020. In order to build on their property, they have to extend Blue Oaks Blvd from Hayden Pkwy (where it currently ends) towards the west to where it would intersect the future extension of Westbrook, and then north into their property on “their” Westbrook. This is the PINK highlight on the map (check it out so you understand).

However, that still leaves a gap (I highlighted it GREEN) between the current northern end of Westbrook and the future intersection of Westbrook and Blue Oaks, and the Creekview folks aren’t responsible for that section, Lennar is.

Reason #2: Lennar didn’t plan to build that section this year and planned to do it next summer before the high school opened. Well…let’s just say that things changed and they decided to get it done this year! Yippee!

WHY IS THIS FANTASTIC? Well, besides the transportation flexibility that Westpark and Fiddyment Farms have been screaming about, take a look at the ORANGE circle on my hand-drawn map. That’s Fire Station #9. Without the upcoming extensions shown in color, take a look at the distance a fire engine would have to travel to get to…oh…say, the Orchard Ranch Elementary School (or any home) on the western (left) edge of my hand-drawn map. It’s quite the time-consuming route! And this doesn’t just affect those neighbors, it affects those in Fiddyment Farm when the fire engine is out of the station and needs to get back across “the divide.” And the same goes for police cars! They can’t quickly get back and forth between the two regions without making the “trip around the world.” When someone isn't breathing or someone is holding a gun, every second counts!

What about the BLUE section that connects Westpark Drive to Blue Oaks Blvd? The city is working on that segment and it will be done in time for the new high school in the fall of 2020.

What about Hayden Parkway (purple dashed line at the top, that will eventually go north from Blue Oaks Blvd and arching east? There’s a bridge involved, and the developer (Signature) is too stretched to complete it this year but says they will have it completed by fall of 2020. That’s super cool in Fiddyment Farm for those going to school, commuting, and for emergency vehicles too!

A few other points of interest:

Phillips Road (east-west section only) will be renamed to Blue Oaks Blvd to the city border on the west.

The new section of Blue Oaks from Hayden Pkwy to Westbrook will be 2 lanes to start with. They’re actually the north side of what will eventually be 4 lanes.

What about the O’Brien’s Kennel (dog kennel) and the north/south segment of Phillip Road (parallels future Westbrook) going to it? (you can see the kennel buildings to the right of the photo of the future Blue Oaks – pink lines in the photo) This north/south section of Phillips Road will dead end at the dog kennel and not connect to the future Blue Oaks. To access the kennel from the west (someone asked), the new route will be to travel east on the new Blue Oaks Blvd extension to the new Westpark Drive extension and then go south to the existing Phillip Road. In case you’re not aware, the dog kennel is on property owned by the City with a lease either party can terminate at any time. As development continues to progress in this area, the dog kennel will relocate at some point and the City will most likely gate off this portion of Phillip Road at Westpark Drive for security reasons, as it will only serve the energy park and water treatment plant.

I went out and took photos but these are already outdated with every passing week because there is so much work happening out there right now. Michael Kuntz has pretty cool drone video footage of the area but it doesn’t show the names of roads so you have to watch very carefully as you look at the map. The video starts from roughly the future intersection of Westbrook and Blue Oaks, facing north into the Creekview Specific plan and then turns east down the future Blue Oaks.

I've gotta add the serious disclaimer that this is open field development and while we truly expect the roads will connect this year, lots of things can happen to push back the timeline. But I've asked everyone involved and everyone keeps saying they fully expect it to be done this year so I'm crossing my fingers!