There are two new roads being planned for the hills east of Ukiah by Mendocino County staff, though the new routes are being planned by different departments who are addressing different needs.
“Conceptually, the two projects serve different functions,” said Travis Killmer, the Chief Recovery and Resiliency Officer for the county of Mendocino, referring to both the East Hills Evacuation Planning Project and the Redemeyer Road Extension Project.
“The East Hills project is focused on identifying a north–south linkage between neighborhoods on the east side of Ukiah to improve evacuation options for areas with limited access,” said Killmer, explaining that about 60 people attended a community meeting last week to find out more about that project, which he said is “funded by Cal Fire specifically to conduct the initial feasibility and planning study for a potential emergency evacuation route serving the East Hills area.”
However, Killmer said, “at this stage, the funding only covers the study and preliminary design work to evaluate potential routes and identify any constraints. If a project were to move forward beyond this study phase, additional funding would need to be secured for environmental review, right-of-way acquisition, and construction.”
And while the East Hills Evacuation Route is “being worked on by the County Executive Office, the Redemeyer Road Extension, by contrast, is designed as an east–west connection across the Russian River, (and) is a separate project being managed by the Mendocino County Department of Transportation,” Killmer said. “While they are separate projects with different funding sources and lead departments, the Redemeyer project could ultimately complement the evacuation improvements being studied through the East Hills effort.”
As for the public meeting on Feb. 26, Killmer said that “was intended to both inform the community about a potential new evacuation route for the Eastern Hills and to gather public input on the preliminary design work completed by our contractor, BKF Engineers. At this stage, no formal decisions have been made regarding the final route, the road standard, or whether the route would be used for public evacuation, emergency response only, or a combination of both. The next steps include compiling and reviewing the public comments received, coordinating with partner agencies, and refining the proposed options based on feasibility, environmental considerations, and community input. We will also need to pursue additional funding for the next phases, as funding to date has only covered this initial study.”
As for the second project, the Redemeyer Road Extension Project, Howard Dashiell, director of the Mendocino County Department of Transportation, announced in May of 2025 that the county had received nearly $40 million of grant funds through “Cycle 2 of the Local Transportation Climate Adaptation Program to fund right-of-way acquisition and construction for the long-anticipated” project.
Predicting that actual construction is still years away, Dashiell said that next steps for the project will be completing the CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) requirements, which he predicted would take at least a year.
At the time, county officials described the latest round of funding (which Dashiell said was from both state and federal grants) as supporting “a vital new connection across the Russian River to North State Street, enhancing regional safety, climate resilience, and emergency response capability. (The county) was previously awarded $12 million through LTCAP Cycle 1 to complete” previous phases of the project, which “includes extending Redemeyer Road west across the Russian River, constructing a new bridge, and adding an at-grade crossing over the Northwestern Pacific Railroad to connect with North State Street.”
When asked for an update on progress, Dashiell said via email Friday that the county DOT was “still working on our Local Transportation Climate Adaptation Program $12M Cycle 1, funding for environmental clearances, permitting, and design, and this process is not proceeding as fast as hoped, but that is typical. When complete there will be an Environmental Report under California Environmental Quality Act released for public comment.”
Dashiell noted that “we must complete Cycle 1 before we can start Cycle 2, (which includes) the allocated $40 million for right-of-way and construction by 2032, we hope.”
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