Approve amendment to revenue Agreement No. 21-108 with Cal Fire extending the term from June 30, 2022 to March 31, 2024 for construction of the County Road 40 Bridge over Cache Creek Replacement Project and authorize the Director of the Department of Community Services, or the Director’s designee, to approve any further extensions of the agreement term that may be necessary to complete the Project. (No general fund impact) (Echiburú/Riddiough)

Approve amendment to revenue Agreement No. 21-108 with Cal Fire extending the term from June 30, 2022 to March 31, 2024 for construction of the County Road 40 Bridge over Cache Creek Replacement Project and authorize the Director of the Department of Community Services, or the Director’s designee, to approve any further extensions of the agreement term that may be necessary to complete the Project.

Approval of this revenue agreement amendment with Cal Fire will allow the County to continue to access the $2,200,000 originally appropriated in the Fiscal Year (FY) 19/20 State Budget for construction of the CR 40 Bridge over Cache Creek Replacement Project until March 31, 2024.

The CR 40 Bridge over Cache Creek (aka Low Water Bridge) is in northwestern Yolo County, near the intersection of County Road 40 and State Route 16, approximately 5 miles northwest of the town of Rumsey.  The bridge is within the Cache Creek Regional Park’s Lower Site.  The existing six-cell reinforced concrete box culvert bridge was determined to be structurally deficient with a safe load capacity designated at zero tons and was closed to vehicular traffic in 2008.
 
When a portion of the Rumsey area burned in the 2015 Rocky Fire, the State of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) could not use the current CR 40 bridge for its heavy equipment to access fire lines and instead had to build a temporary crossing over Cache Creek.  Most recently in the 2020 LNU Complex Fire, the National Guard was mobilized to install a temporary bridge just upstream of the failed low water crossing, so Cal Fire could fight the wildfire in the wilderness area west of Cache Creek.
 
In order to accelerate replacement of the bridge, the County received an $800,000 grant from Cal Fire in 2018 to fund the preliminary engineering and environmental phases of the project.
 
To further accelerate replacement of this bridge, Cal Fire allocated $2,200,000 in State funds for construction phase activities necessary to replace the bridge.  Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry was instrumental in originally setting aside these funds in the State’s FY 19/20 Budget for assisting in prioritizing the CR 40 bridge replacement project.  Due to an approximate one-year delay in the environmental phase approval, the project construction had to be moved out a year (FY 20/21).  The County Administrator’s Office staff was able to coordinate with Cal Fire to successfully re-appropriate the funds to the current fiscal year (FY 21/22), as well.
 
The CR 40 Low Water Bridge replacement construction is in process.  Construction activities began in September 2021 with removal of the existing bridge.  In October 2021, a significant rain event produced enough runoff in Cache Creek to overwhelm and washout the creek diversion system and the temporary creek crossing.  Since this happened, even before bridge construction could even begin, the contractor decided to suspend operations until March 2022.  With this suspension, completion of the bridge and bridge opening will not occur by the current June 30, 2022 agreement sunset.  Construction is expected to last through Fall 2022, weather permitting.
 
Extending the agreement to March 2024 will help ensure that Cal Fire and Yolo County can fully utilize this funding if there are additional delays due to weather or other unforeseen circumstances.
 
The project construction cost is estimated at $3,480,000.  The balance of construction phase funds are planned to be reimbursed by the federal Highway Bridge Program (HBP).  The bridge is programmed for HBP construction reimbursement for up to $4,278,000.  With Cal Fire’s contribution of construction funds, the county will not need to request the full amount programmed in the HBP.  The HBP, however is significantly underfunded and no federal funds have been allocated towards the project to date for construction.  County staff is proceeding with the project using the Road Fund under a Caltrans agreement for delayed reimbursement from the HBP.  Staff has been informed that the reimbursement could be distributed the following fiscal year or later, and the agreement cautions reimbursement is not guaranteed.

County Administrator’s Office staff coordinated with Cal Fire and Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry’s Office to secure the Cal Fire Grant.
 
County Counsel has approved the agreement amendment as to form.