Creston Road Has Two Finish Lines, and the Rolling Hills Roundabout Is the Later One

If you drive Creston Road between Niblick and Orchard most days, when does it go back to normal? The City of Paso Robles has two answers, and they are about a year apart. Crews have been working since July 13 on a single project with a budget of about $17.8 million, but the City split the work into two jobs that run side by side and end at different times. For east-side drivers, the date that matters most is the one for the roundabout at Rolling Hills Road, because that end date also decides how long Rolling Hills stays closed.

One project, two clocks

The City's July 10 traffic advisory splits Phase 2 into the pieces below. The May 2026 Council staff report gave its own duration estimates for the same work.

Count from the July 13 start and the staff report's 8-to-10-month estimate for Phase B lands in spring 2027. The advisory's Fall 2027 date leaves more room than that. The roundabout works the same way: 18 to 24 months from July comes out to early or mid-2028, and the advisory says Fall 2028. Both sets of numbers are forecasts from the City. Whichever you go by, the Melody-to-Niblick stretch was always meant to finish first. The staff report says so directly: splitting the work "allows Phase B to be completed first, restoring a significant portion of the corridor while work continues at the roundabout."

Why the roundabout takes twice as long

The City's Phase 2 announcement lists a long run of underground work for the project: replacing aging utilities, new sewer mains, fire hydrants and gate valves, and conduit for future fiber. The staff report says aging underground infrastructure on Creston gets repaired before the road is resurfaced. It names the heavy utility replacement at Rolling Hills, along with the need to close Rolling Hills Road, as the reasons the roundabout is the hard part.

The City closed Rolling Hills Road around the clock on purpose. Its announcement says the 24/7 closure "will allow the most expedient and cost-efficient construction schedule." In practice, a side street that many east-side households use as a cut-through between Creston and Golden Hill is closed to through traffic for as long as Phase A runs.

Living with the Rolling Hills closure

Here is how the detour works under the July advisory:

1. Turns from Creston Road onto Rolling Hills Road are not allowed during the closure.
2. Through traffic takes Golden Hill Road north to Union Road.
3. Rolling Hills Road stays open from the Golden Hill Road end only for people who live on that stretch and for families using the Children's Academy Montessori.

Creston Road itself is supposed to stay open in both directions for the whole project, with flaggers, lane shifts and temporary striping doing the work. The exceptions are short and scheduled. The City's October 8 advisory closed Creston completely between Nickerson Drive and Melody Drive overnight, from about 10 p.m. on October 13 to 6 a.m. on October 14, so crews could work on the waterline. Affected customers lost water service by 9 p.m., and drivers were sent around on Union and Golden Hill roads. Paso Robles Daily News reported the same closure and detour. The same advisory said waterline work would go on for several weeks, with daytime hours of 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and bike lanes and parking areas used to keep two-way traffic moving. Under the July advisory, Phase B crews also adjust their hours around school commute times.

Golden Hill Road, the street the detour runs on, also has a new errand stop. Trader Joe's opened on July 23 at 2457 Golden Hill Road in Golden Hills Plaza, next to T.J. Maxx, KSBY reported. The store opened ten days after Phase 2 began, so a weekend grocery run and the roundabout detour now share the same street.

The intersection work on a separate clock

Some of the cones near Niblick have nothing to do with the City's contract. The turn-lane work at Creston Road and Niblick Road is paid for by the developer of the Vinedo project east of Linne Road, under an agreement with the City, and is scheduled from July 15 through December 2026. According to the October 8 advisory, crews started with a left-turn pocket toward eastbound Sherwood Road, with turn pockets for westbound Niblick and southbound Creston to follow. During the first week of active work, the signal was set to flash red from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. This is the first of the three pieces scheduled to finish, so the Niblick end of the corridor should calm down well before the rest.

Some changes are already in place. The signal at Creston and Scott Street now runs on all four approaches, and it includes the City's first flashing yellow left-turn arrow. The arrow means left turns are allowed after yielding to oncoming traffic. If you're used to a solid green ball there, that's the change.

Where the money and the roundabout came from

The roundabout was something residents asked for. The City has called Creston Road a priority since the early 1990s because of aging infrastructure and gaps in the sidewalk network. A 2016 grant paid for community outreach, and the Council adopted a preferred design in 2018. Through walking tours and on-site safety demonstrations, residents named the improvements they wanted. That list included a traffic signal at Walnut, Bolen and Creston, crossings with pedestrian-activated flashing lights at Ivy, Trigo and Orchard, separated bike lanes where the road is wide enough, and a roundabout at Rolling Hills Road.

Phase 1 delivered the signal and the crossings between South River Road and Orchard Drive and is now finished. The roundabout is the largest remaining item on that list, and that's why Phase 2 is built around it.

Most of the money comes from local sales tax. Here is the funding table from the staff report:

• Measures J-20 and I-24, the voter-approved local sales tax measures: $14,245,000
• State Priority Legislative Budget Projects, the allocation secured by State Senator John Laird: $3,000,000
• State Local Partnership Program formula grant: $400,000
• Highway Safety Improvement Program: $135,000
• Total construction budget: $17,780,000

That means about four of every five dollars come from local sales tax. Bidding was close. Whitaker Construction came in lowest of three bidders at $13,469,901.20, ahead of Granite at $13,549,918 and Griffith at $14,085,155. The Council approved the Whitaker contract unanimously on its May 5 consent calendar. Add North Coast Engineering's $754,276.30 for construction-phase engineering, and committed construction costs come to $14,224,177 against the $17.78 million budget.

What reopens first

The order is set even if the exact dates move. The Vinedo turn lanes at Niblick are scheduled to finish by December 2026. The Melody-to-Niblick stretch comes next: spring 2027 under the staff report's count, or Fall 2027 under the advisory's. The Rolling Hills roundabout comes last, with the City's advisory giving Fall 2028, and that's when the Golden Hill-to-Union detour ends and Rolling Hills Road opens to through traffic again. The City posts project updates and traffic advisories at prcity.com/crestonroad. The October 13 overnight closure, for example, was announced on October 8.

Projects like this one change how a neighborhood works day to day, and buyers ask about them. If you own a home near Creston Road and wonder how a two-year roundabout timeline fits with plans to sell or stay, Aimee Edsall is happy to look at your street and timing with you. Request a complimentary consultation & home valuation.