Residents in Southwest Newman could see improvements to roads in the area later this year as construction for a road rehabilitation project is expected to start later this month.

Fresno, Tulare, L and M Streets will be pulverized and repaved through construction backed by Measure L, a 25-year half-cent sales tax centered on improving local streets and roads, connectivity and road congestion in Stanislaus County. The bond measure was supported by voters in 2016.

Newman receives 1.26% of the bond measure funds, according to the city’s website. The city has been awarded $3.8 million in revenue since the sales tax went into effect, per a 2024-25 fiscal year audit.

In addition to the project, the block of L Street located between Merced Street and Inyo Avenue will be completely reconstructed. Newman Public Works Director Thomas Spankowski said the block will be closed and the other sections will have restricted access depending on the project stage.

The project is expected to cost more than $1.7 million and will be done in phases. Hughson-based United Pavement Maintenance was awarded to work on the construction by the city council in the June meeting.

The streets worked on for the project were selected based on a pavement condition index (PCI), an indicator that rates the condition of roads, parking lots and airfields based on numerical score from 0 to 100. A score of 86 to 100 is good, 71 to 85 is satisfactory, 56 to 70 is fair, 41 to 55 is poor, 26 to 40 is very poor, 11 to 25 is very serious and 0 to 10 is failing.

All four streets had a poor or very poor PCI score, Spankowski said.

“We have a program that tracks the current condition of the road based on metrics that it used to say a common type of road of this type, in this traffic throughput, the quality or condition gets worse at this rate over time,” Spankowski said. “To pick an area to spend money on to repair, we use our tools at our disposal.”

Construction for the project to start later this month and not in the year is to avoid the rain, Spankowski said. He added that with paving involved, there’s a specific temperature range for it to be built and August was the best time to do so.

The project is expected to finish by November, where the rain season usually begins.

“The Measure L monies we receive are very important to the community of Newman in making sure that local transportation improvements and repairs are brought to the Newman community,” Spankowski said. “Measure L is an important measure for the community of Newman.”