On June 17, 2016, the City of La Habra was awarded $135,000 of State Grant Funds from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), through the Systemic Safety Analysis Report Program (SSARP) to conduct a traffic safety study in the City.

SSARP provides recipient agencies with resources to conduct a proactive safety analysis that focuses on evaluation of an entire roadway network using a defined set of criteria.  The study focuses on crash history to identify potentially high-risk roadway characteristics, rather than looking at high-collision concentration locations through site analysis.  Systemic analysis acknowledges that crashes alone are not always sufficient to prioritize countermeasures across a system; this is particularly true for many local streets and highways in rural areas with low volumes where crash densities tend to be low and where there are few high crash locations, as well as in urban areas where vehicles interact with other road users including pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcycles.

The goal of SSARP is to help local agencies identify safety projects that could be submitted for Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) funding consideration.  Through the funding of Systemic Safety Analysis Reports (SSAR), local agencies will be encouraged to evaluate their roadway networks with an approach that can be more effective for addressing safety issues.

In August 2017, the City hired Stantec to conduct a SSAR.  The report identified six intersections in the City of La Habra with potential traffic safety concerns which needed to be addressed.  These six intersections were:

La Habra Boulevard and Monte Vista Street
La Habra Boulevard and Cypress Street
La Habra Boulevard and Euclid Street
Harbor Boulevard and Stearns Avenue
Lambert Road and Idaho Street
Las Lomas Drive and Idaho Street

The City used the SSAR prepared by Stantec to pursue Federal Grant funds and, in 2018, the City was awarded a federal grant in the amount of $706,140 under the Safety Highway Improvement Program (HSIP) Cycle 9 to fund the improvements identified in the SSAR. The Grant required a 10% local match, which the City funded using available Gas Tax funds in the amount of $78,460, for a total project budget of $784,600.

On August 8, 2022, staff solicited a Request for Proposals (RFP) to provide professional traffic design services for the six intersections selected for the HSIP grant.  Two proposals were received by the submittal deadline of September 8, 2022.  One proposal was from KOA Corporation (KOA) and the other was from ADVANTEC Consulting Engineers, Inc (ADVANTEC).

A review committee comprised of staff from the City of La Habra Engineering Division evaluated the proposals.  Based on a score of 100 points, the review committee established a score for each proposal based upon the following evaluation criteria: firm experience and stability, quality and experience of the project manager, quality and experience of the key personnel, experience with the Caltrans Local Assistance Procedure Manual, demonstrated ability to meet federal funding requirements, and project understanding and schedule.  The proposals were ranked as follows:
 

The evaluation committee determined that KOA was the most qualified firm for the project.  KOA demonstrated a unique understanding of what the City requires, specifically the commitment to complete the design prior to the grant deadline of April 2024.  As part of their proposal, KOA has proposed to include the following design aspects as part of this project: traffic signal pole upgrades, traffic signal head upgrades, protected left turn signal phasing and exclusive left-turn lanes, ADA related improvements (where applicable), and help prepare all required documentation for all Caltrans submittals.  In addition, KOA has completed numerous similar design projects with great success for other Orange County agencies, including projects for the Cities of Anaheim, Orange, Placentia, and Yorba Linda.  Furthermore, staff reviewed KOA’s proposed fee, and after negotiation with staff, KOA reduced their proposed fee by $11,003 (approximately 9%) to $120,670 (Attachment 2 and Attachment 3).

Staff recommends the City Council approve and authorize the City Manager to execute an agreement (Attachment 1) with KOA and authorize staff to issue a purchase to KOA in the amount of $132,737, which includes a 10% contingency.