Receive an update on the progress of the County Road (CR) 98 Bike and Safety Improvement Project, Phase II and authorize staff to phase construction of the project. (No general fund impact) (Lindbo/Razo) (Est. Time: 10 min)

Receive an update on the progress of the CR 98 Bike and Safety Improvement Project, Phase II (“Project”) and authorize staff to phase construction of the project. The last time staff presented an update to the Board of Supervisors on this Project was on December 11, 2018.

Phasing the Project to allow staff to proceed first with constructing the section of the Project between Solano County and Hutchison Drive would enable staff to fully leverage existing federal funding sources available to the County. This will complete approximately one-third of the entire Project. Constructing this section first would better position the Project for more opportunities, and become more competitive for, a wider range of State and Federal grant funding programs to complete the remainder of the Project.

Background

The CR 98 Bike and Safety Improvement Project, Phase II (Project) will extend the improvements completed in 2014 between Woodland and County Road 29 southward to the Solano County line. The Project has received federal transportation funding for preliminary engineering and project development, right of way, and construction through the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) in the amounts of $2,364,782, $4,180,00, and $8,725,000, respectively.

On December 11, 2018, the Board of Supervisors approved staff recommendation to select round-abouts as the intersection treatment for the main intersections with CR 98.  Staff moved forward with the environmental phase. The Natural Environment Study (NES) was approved by Caltrans on January 27, 2021, and the Board of Supervisors adopted the Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) on April 26, 2022, as the appropriate level of environmental review in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). On November 7, 2022, Caltrans concluded that a Categorical Exclusion was the appropriate determination for the project under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

After approval and adoption of the environmental documents for the project, staff requested authorization to proceed with the right of way phase. Authorization was granted by Caltrans on December 7, 2022, and the County’s right of way acquisition consultant, Monument ROW, Inc. (Monument), was given notice to proceed with their work.

In late February 2023 to early March 2023, Mark Thomas & Company, Inc., the County’s survey consultant for the Project, delineated the right of way needs by placing stakes along all properties impacted by the Project. The stakes were used by Pattison & Associates, a subconsultant to Monument, to perform appraisals and develop appraisal reports for all acquisition areas to determine fair market value. In mid-September 2023, Monument began to contact all property owners to present written offers to acquire the real property needed for the Project. Due to harvest season most property owners elected to receive the offer packages via mail. We expect the right of way acquisition process to continue through late 2024.

The County has not been successful in pursuing grant funding opportunities for securing the remainder of construction funding necessary for this Phase II Project over the past several years. Most recently, County applications for the 2022/23 SACOG Regional Funding Program Transformative Category, and the 2023 Active Transportation Program (ATP) Cycle 6 for the State and local programs were not awarded funds. Staff believes that breaking the construction up into multiple phases would better position the County to receive grant funding consideration.  Smaller sized, phased construction projects may better compete for limited funding sources, rather than asking for the full amount of remaining funding needed to cover the entire Project at one time (approximately $26 million).

To put this in motion, staff requests permission to proceed with packaging the southernmost portion of this Project as the Project’s first section to be constructed.  Constructing the road widening between Solano County and Hutchison Drive, including the new Hutchison Drive roundabout at UC Davis, is estimated to cost approximately $7 million, which is covered by the amount of existing grant funding already received by the County for construction ($8,725,000). Staff believes that successfully delivering this segment will help garner support for completing the remainder of the Phase II project between Hutchison and County Road 29, and give confidence to grant awarding agencies that future success can be expected for the subsequent construction phases.

This southernmost section includes right-of-way acquisition, mostly necessary from UC Davis, who is a partner on this Project and has agreed to provide the needed project area as part of its project contribution. Phasing the Project as proposed will allow additional time for the County’s right-of-way team to work with other property owners to address Project concerns, complete appraisals, etc. while the first phase involving UC Davis right-of-way acquisitions is completed. Also, the County of Solano has recently completed a road widening on Pedrick Road, south of the Putah Creek bridge to Interstate 80, and this project would extend the widened, paved road shoulders north of the bridge to Hutchison Drive. However, there may be benefits to considering other phasing options. Staff are open to other phasing options as directed by the Board.

Committee on Capital Investments