Why does the new roundabout at Eaton Road and Floral Avenue have two lanes in each direction on Eaton when the road you take home from it doesn't have them yet?
The City of Chico's project page gives the answer. The roundabout is described as "consistent with the planned widening of Eaton Road to four lanes east of Floral Avenue." For anyone living near Hancock Park, the small CARD park at Middletown Avenue and Valley Forge Drive, that one line ties together most of the street work happening nearby. The roundabout, the Ceanothus Avenue rebuild, next year's Floral Avenue bike lanes and the Eaton Road widening scheduled for 2028 aren't separate projects that happen to land near each other. They are steps in one plan, and the step closest to the park is the one that hasn't started.
The roundabout is the first piece
The Eaton and Floral roundabout has two lanes each direction on Eaton and one lane each direction on Floral. The plans also include walkways, bicycle facilities, street lighting and new landscaping on the northwest and southwest corners next to the existing apartment complexes.
Action News Now put the cost at $3 million. Brendan Ottoboni, Chico's director of public works engineering, explained where the money comes from: "we collect fees from the developers as they build each unit, we collect those fees and put them towards projects to mitigate impacts." Gas tax money and state transportation funding covered the rest. So new homes being built in north Chico are paying for the intersection that has to carry their traffic.
As of early October 2026, the City's project page still lists construction completion as "Fall 2026." Action News Now reported earlier that the project was ahead of schedule, with "minor paving and project details like striping left." The City was aiming to have traffic moving through it before school started in August. We haven't found a dated notice confirming the last of the striping is done, so finishing crews may still show up now and then.
What the 2028 corridor puts a block from the park
The bigger project is the Eaton Road Corridor Improvements Project. It covers about 2.15 miles of East Eaton Road, from East Lassen Avenue to Wildwood Park. The City's published scope includes:
- Widening East Eaton Road to four lanes between Ceanothus Avenue and Wildwood Park
- Buffered bike lanes, plus curb, gutter and sidewalk along the widened section
- A new westbound lane with a median and sidewalk running east to Wildwood Park, with a connection into the park
- Pavement surface treatments between East Lassen Avenue and Floral Avenue
- At least four new traffic signals, at East Lassen Avenue, Mariposa Avenue, Ceanothus Avenue and Marigold Avenue
Marigold is the signal that matters most here. On the map, Marigold Avenue sits roughly a tenth of a mile south of Hancock Park in a straight line, and Eaton Road runs about 0.15 to 0.2 mile south of the park. Those are crow-flies distances, not walking routes, but they put the park inside the stretch that gets both the extra lanes and a new signal.
The City lists three reasons for the project. It is meant to improve access to Chico's street system for development north of East Eaton Road, take pressure off parallel arterials, and fill important links in the City's Class II bikeway system. It will be built within the existing public right-of-way. That last point helps if you live along the corridor. The plan widens the road inside land the City already controls.
The schedule, as the City has posted it
| Milestone | Date on the City's page |
|---|---|
| Environmental review complete | January 2025 |
| Design complete | November 2026 |
| Construction | April 2028 |
Design is due next month, but construction is about a year and a half away. Until then, the Eaton you drive past Hancock Park stays as it is. Questions about the design can go to City of Chico Public Works Engineering at 530-879-6900, the contact listed on the project page.
Ceanothus shows what a finished rebuild looks like
If you want to see what a fully rebuilt east Chico street looks like, Ceanothus Avenue between Manzanita Avenue and East Avenue is the best recent example. The City hired Franklin Construction, Inc., and work started May 11, 2026. The Chico Enterprise-Record photographed crews paving on Monday, July 20. Later, Action News Now reported the street open to traffic ahead of the school year.
According to the City, the finished work includes:
- A reconstructed roadway designed to last for decades
- New sidewalks along the Pleasant Valley High School stadium
- Enhanced pedestrian safety features
- A new student parking lot entrance from East Avenue, meant to ease congestion on Ceanothus
- Dedicated parking spaces
Two details are easy to miss. The new East Avenue entrance is for entering the school lot only, and drivers leaving should use the other marked exits. Parking along Ceanothus is also restricted while the landscaping contractor finishes up. Measure H paid for the project, and Chico Unified School District and the Butte County Air Quality District's Community Air Program added money for some of the features.
The connection to the Eaton plan is direct. The rebuilt section of Ceanothus sits about 0.7 to 0.8 mile south of Hancock Park, and farther north, Ceanothus Avenue is where the Eaton widening starts. When the corridor work arrives, the Ceanothus and Eaton intersection gets one of the four new signals.
2027 fills in the streets between them
The next round of work covers the streets between the roundabout and the corridor. The City's 2027 Road Rehabilitation Project covers Floral, North and Mariposa avenues from Manzanita Avenue to East Avenue. It is in design, funded by Measure H, and expected to begin in summer 2027. Two parts of it matter for anyone getting around this side of town:
- Bike lanes on Floral. At its September 8, 2025 meeting, the City's Internal Affairs Committee reviewed survey results and moved forward with removing parking on the east side of Floral between Manzanita and East Avenue to make room for bike lanes.
- A roundabout at Manzanita, Mariposa and Longfellow. The design for this roundabout is part of the 2027 project. The City hasn't posted a separate construction or opening date for the roundabout itself, so the summer 2027 start applies to the larger rehabilitation project.
At the west end of Eaton, the City is designing a four-legged multilane roundabout at the State Route 99 southbound on- and off-ramps, with sidewalks and a 10-foot shared-use path for people walking and biking. Construction is expected to begin in 2027 and take about 10 months. Ottoboni had already mentioned both future roundabouts when he talked about the Floral project.
Taken together, these projects rebuild the trips most people around Hancock Park make every day. Eaton gets a roundabout at the freeway, a roundabout at Floral and new signals from Lassen to Marigold. Ceanothus already has new pavement and sidewalks, and Floral is set to get bike lanes. The east end of the corridor connects to Wildwood Park.
A sequence that works for families with kids at Pleasant Valley High
The City has scheduled its biggest jobs around the school calendar. Ceanothus reopened before classes started, and the roundabout was aimed at the same August deadline. Ottoboni called it a historic year for construction in Chico, with 13 projects underway at the time. The City hasn't promised the same timing for summer 2027, but both of this year's big jobs near Pleasant Valley High were planned around the first day of school.
For now, the posted schedule shows what's ahead. The streets around the park get a quiet stretch after this fall's finishing work. Floral and Mariposa construction is expected to start in summer 2027, the SR 99 roundabout in 2027, and the Eaton Road widening past Marigold in April 2028. If you spend your afternoons at the park itself, our guide to afternoons in Hancock Park covers the playfield, paths and disc golf baskets these roads will lead to.
A wider Eaton Road and a signal at Marigold will change how the blocks around Hancock Park work. If you're thinking through the next few years on your street, Lora Trenner can go over the corridor timeline with you and start with a free instant home valuation, so you have a current number to plan from before construction starts.
