Sheldon Road interchange construction underway after years of waiting

Let’s take a trip in the Elk Grove time machine to 1994.

In those years before the likes of Jim Cooper and Mayor Gary Davis and the ensuing population explosion, Elk Grove was an incorporated area of Sacramento County. As such, the one elected political entity that lorded over the area was the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors.

In ’94, Supervisor Toby Johnson decided to vacate his seat and a very intense race was on to fill the coveted position. After a late-Spring primary that saw several candidates throw their hats in the ring, the top two in the race were Kay Albiani and Don Nottoli.

Nottoli had been a top aid for Johnson and a board member of the Galt Unified School District. Albiani had long been involved in Elk Grove politics and was a board member of the Elk Grove Unified School District.

While Nottoli beat Albiani in the November election and has honorably served the fifth district since, I voted for Albinia based on one of her mailers.

In Albiani's mailer was an aerial shot of the 99-Sheldon interchange. Although I can’t remember the exact wording, Albiani told voters if they wanted a continuation of the hazardous and traffic-jam-ridden conditions they should vote for Johnson’s protégé, Don Nottoli.

Although Albiani lost the election, I have often thought of the ’94 interchange photo. Although it is unlikely Albiani could have done anything better than Nottoli based on the Byzantine construction and finance laws for road construction, isn’t it ironic after 14 years of making this antiquated interchange an issue, work is just now starting.

Amazing that feral fields can be rezoned turned into housing developments is as few as five years, but an interchange that serves thousands of commuters on a daily basis took over 14 years to be replaced.