Arguably the roughest stretch of pavement on a Ripon arterial street will get a lot smoother in the coming months.

The Ripon City Council is meeting in a special session today at 1:30 p.m. to consider a staff recommendation to award a $342,852 bid to Knife River Construction to overlay West Ripon Road from Jack Tone Road to South Highland Avenue.

Large sections of the asphalt are breaking apart, plus drivers routinely need to dodge potholes.

The project entails:

*Two-inch grind and overlay.

*Deep lift asphalt reconstruction where pavement failure has occurred.

*Thermoplastic striping.

Council members will also be asked to lift a restriction imposed on Lennar Homes that they could only get permits for 17 of the 88 lots in the Meadowood single-family development west of Fulton Avenue.

While Lennar Homes will be allowed to pull permits for all homes in the development, it is being conditioned that the firm may not close any sales or transfer any property to a homeowner until all improvements have been completed and accepted by the City of Ripon.

Among the previous conditions was for the firm to do the full width-extension of Fulton Avenue instead of what Ripon rules require them to do.

For doing so, the city is reimbursing costs in an amount not to exceed $756,092 for the full-width extension of Fulton Avenue beyond Meadowood’s conditions of approval.

The council meets at 1:30 p.m. at the Ripon City Hall, 259 Wilma Ave.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com