A Town Finds Joy in Being Passed By

CLOVERDALE, Calif. —  One day last year, Mike Nixon came to a delightful realization: For the first time, he could hear birds chirping in Cloverdale’s trees.

Nixon’s discovery did not signal the arrival of some new avian species with a special vocal gift. Rather, it was proof that Cloverdale’s notorious traffic noise--which had cursed the Sonoma County town with its constant din throughout Nixon’s life--was finally gone.

“It was so great to walk down the streets and hear those birds,” said Nixon, 25, who owns a pizza parlor in town. “It made me realize that while I was growing up here, all I heard was the roar of engines passing through.”

Communal peace is just one surprising benefit of a $40-million freeway bypass that has routed busy U.S. 101 around Cloverdale’s downtown. Before the project, more than 27,000 cars and big rigs rumbled through each day, leaving behind an obnoxious blend of fumes, grime and noise. Now, a mere 7,000 vehicles--many of them driven by locals--roll along the main street on any given day.

“It’s wonderful, because for the first time in years and years and years you can walk along the boulevard without fear of getting run down,” said Carol Giovanatto, a native of this town of 5,500. “We have a new atmosphere. It’s like a small town--the way Cloverdale used to be.”

Before the bypass was completed in mid-1994, merchants anticipated it with dread, fearing that sales would collapse once the stream of highway travelers dried up. But while a few have suffered, most are faring better than ever. It seems the people of Cloverdale--once reluctant to confront the tourist traffic that clogged their business district--have rediscovered their downtown.

City officials are trying hard to nourish this trend, pushing an ambitious revitalization plan to diversify Cloverdale’s economy and spruce up its somewhat shabby core. In March, they will christen a new public plaza, complete with bike racks, landscaping, picnic areas and a stage for entertainment. Marketing efforts are gradually luring businesses to town, and beautification projects are under way as well.

Civic leaders hope that all the efforts will bring prosperity to Cloverdale, transforming it from a gas and fast-food pit stop for travelers en route to Mendocino into a thriving shopping village appealing to residents and tourists alike.

“For a long time, the highway dictated what sort of place Cloverdale would be--a place dominated by gas stations, fast food and other services for people just passing through,” said planning director Joe Heckel. “Now our goal is to be more than that.”

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Tucked amid verdant hills in northern Sonoma County, Cloverdale was a busy stagecoach stop in the 1800s. For a time, it also marked the end of the railroad line that came north from the Bay Area, a place ever-teeming with sheep, turkeys and other commodities brought to town for export by ranchers.

After World War II, Cloverdale’s farm-oriented economy expanded as a logging boom took hold. Along with workers and jobs, the boom brought trucks laden with logs. The trucks and other traffic quickly transformed the region’s narrow farm roads into bustling avenues of commerce--especially in Cloverdale, which was bisected by U.S. 101.

Sensing that they were in for trouble, city fathers made a pilgrimage to Sacramento in 1948, asking the state to build a bypass to divert the highway around their town. Ten years later, the Legislature approved the project, promising completion by 1964. It took 30 more years to get the job done.

As the decades passed, the traffic became worse. On weekends, swarms of cars traveling through from points north backed up bumper to bumper in the heart of town--and for miles beyond. Frequently, Cloverdale’s residents found themselves trapped by the gridlock, unable to cross the highway. At roadside drive-ins, patrons ate cheeseburgers spiced with exhaust and yelled to be heard over the traffic’s roar.

Now and then, the highway claimed a life. In 1988, several nasty accidents prompted some fed-up townsfolk to erect mock cemeteries beside the road and send Caltrans petitions with hundreds of signatures demanding action.

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Today, Carol Chase lives on Cloverdale Boulevard--the old U.S. 101. Asked to describe the changes in town since the bypass, the lifelong resident mentions three.

First, there is the marked improvement in the health of the roses, antique iris and other plants in her frontyard garden. “They are much greener and friskier now that the yucky fumes from all those cars are gone.”

Life inside Chase’s home is more pleasant as well--free of the vibrations and window rattling caused by the parade of logging trucks that once thundered by. Finally, Chase says, the bypass has made bicycling safe in Cloverdale--an important point for someone who prefers traveling on two wheels.

Nixon--the pizza parlor owner--is equally thrilled with life, post-bypass. With the downtown now free of traffic noise, he has built a brick patio for outdoor dining behind his Papa’s Pizza Cafe.

“I would never have done this before the bypass,” Nixon said, “but now people want to eat outdoors.”

Not everyone has shared in the benefits brought by the freeway’s new route. City officials said three businesses--a gas station, a drive-in and a second restaurant--failed after the bypass opened, and several other merchants report that sales are down.

But most of those seem to feel that a slump--so long as it’s temporary--is a price worth paying for the improved ambience in the town they call home. Joyce Victoria, who owns the Redwood Smorgette restaurant, is typical.

Since the bypass opened, she has cut her staff and operating hours to cope with a business dip of about 30%. Despite the hit, she is philosophical--and has no plans to give up.

“Business-wise, things stink,” Victoria said. “But life here is so much more pleasant. You can’t have everything all the time. We’re just waiting for better times to come.”