Busy Napa intersection finally gets new traffic light after drunk driver destroyed it last year

A busy Napa intersection has finally gotten a new traffic light installed after a drunken driver crashed into it more than a year ago.

In the early, still-dark morning of April 7, 2023, the driver, Ramon Gomez, crashed into the light pole at Soscol and Lincoln avenues. Gomez and his passenger were transported to the Providence Queen of the Valley Medical Center with injuries.

Court documents note that at the scene Gomez “had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from person, red blood shot eyes, slurred speak and he was unsteady on his feet.” The passenger suffered a major spinal cord injury, the documents say. Gomez’s blood alcohol level tested at 0.177%, according to the documents.

Gomez was later charged with two felony counts connected to causing injury while under the influence of alcohol. In November, he was granted a five-year probation, with terms including about a year in jail — though that time was reduced by 277 days because of good conduct and time served — along with about $2,500 in fines and restitution payment to the passenger.

Following the crash, the city and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. added a temporary pole, but it was stuck on a flashing red signal for several days.

Traffic signals there were stuck on fixed timings for a while — slowing traffic from its usual pace — said city engineering assistant Ed Moore, but the city managed to set the lights up for automatic car detection about a month later.

At the time, the city synchronizing traffic signal timings along Soscol and Lincoln avenues, as well as Redwood Road and Trancas Street, to improve traffic flow.

Another hardware upgrade that came into effect as part of that update is making it so city staff can immediately tell when there are problems with traffic lights.

The collision complicated that work, according to Moore, but it is nearing completion. Staff will train on how to use new hardware and timings — which have been placed at 22 intersections — in the next few weeks, he said.

Matt Price, the city’s maintenance superintendent, said following the collision the city ordered a new, permanent pole in early summer 2023.

There’s typically a 48- to 52-week lead time to get such items, so the city in the meantime put a scope of work together and selected a contractor to complete the replacement once the project arrived.

The temporary pole was hit by a car before the replacement happened, Price noted, though that time there wasn’t serious damage.

The replacement pole arrived in March, he said, but the pole arm was “lost in transit,” so an additional arm had to be ordered after the vendor was unable to locate the arm.

Once everything needed was in place, the replacement of the pole went forward in less than two weeks.

You can reach Staff Writer Edward Booth at 707-521-5281 or edward.booth@pressdemocrat.com.