Just in from SDOT – three more blocks of California SW in the treacherous stretch between Alaska and Morgan Junctions are about to get some help:

Next Monday through Thursday, December 12 through 15, Seattle Department of Transportation crews will be resurfacing California Avenue SW from SW Findlay Street to SW Graham Street [map]. The resurfacing work, which will take place from 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. each day, will involve grinding down the surface, making repairs to the street base and repaving the roadway. Traffic in both directions will be pushed to the opposite side of where the crews are working. All crosswalks and sidewalks will remain open. A Police Officer will provide traffic control at the intersection of California Avenue SW and SW Graham Street.

We’ll check with Metro for their rerouting plans.

ADDED 11:25 AM: Since SDOT has said it would love to repave more of California SW south of The Junction but didn’t have the money, we asked what was paying for this sudden project. SDOT’s Peg Nielsen tells WSB it’s from the “Rubble Yard sale,” city property sold for use as a staging area in the Highway 99 tunnel project. City Council President Richard Conlin wrote about it earlier this year.

ADDED 1:43 PM: Nielsen also provides an explanation of a question asked in comments – why just three blocks? – and what’s ahead:

From Benjamin Hansen, a civil engineer in SDOT’s pavement management group:

“SDOT crews hope to complete some spot paving on 35th Ave SW between SW Othello St and SW Myrtle St before the end of the year, provided a weather event does not interrupt those plans. We are presently compiling a list of crew spot paving projects for 2012 and we expect there will be a number in West Seattle, as there have been this year (California Ave SW, Beach Dr SW, 35th/Marine View Dr SW, Delridge, Sylvan/Orchard/Dumar Way SW, et al). In these tough budget times, we are grateful that the Mayor and Council have sustained funding for street repairs. This year, SDOT’s paving crews have delivered more than 13 lane-miles of paving at more than 50 different locations across the city.

Please keep in mind that our SDOT crew projects are restricted in size to approximately to approximately $90K (usually a few blocks total) by the state’s bid limit regulations. We aren’t able to fully reconstruct streets, which is what is needed on many of these corridors. Nonetheless, we feel the spot paving projects are a step up from pothole repairs in terms of the finished product and are an effective way to extend the life of existing street surfaces and address locations where we have frequent pothole reports. As with all of our paving programs, we have to make difficult choices when prioritizing projects, as the accumulated paving needs across the City far exceed the available dollars.”