Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type:
To: City Council
Subject: Consideration of Resolution Approving a Freeway Maintenance Agreement with Caltrans
Date: June 28, 2022
Written by: Craig Scott, Director of Public Works/City Engineer Recommendation
It is recommended the City Council adopt a resolution authorizing the City Manager to approve Amendment 1 to the Freeway Maintenance Agreement with Caltrans in substantially the form attached, subject to final approval by the City Attorney.
Background
On June 11, 1957, a Freeway Maintenance Agreement was executed between the County of Sonoma and State for State Route 101, between half a mile south of Wilfred Avenue, and Railroad Avenue. The City subsequently incorporated, including portions of the area covered by the maintenance agreement. The City has, therefore, assumed maintenance obligations around the interface between the State roadways and City roads.
The Maintenance Agreement was revised in 2016, to incorporate revisions with the recent completion of the State Route 101 expansion project in and near City limits. The revisions were prompted by the City requesting an encroachment permit for landscaping improvements, completed in 2017, along Highway 116 across the State Route 101. The revised maintenance agreement was needed to obtain the encroachment permit prior to the City starting construction on the landscaping improvements. Similar to 2017, the City once again has requested an encroachment permit for a City project, the Downtown and Civic Center Connectivity and Safety Project (Project), and Caltrans has required the maintenance agreement be revised.
Analysis/Discussion
The Project extents includes paving and striping work under the West Sierra Avenue and State Route 101 interchange and, therefore, a Caltrans encroachment permit is required and was applied for. In their review of the encroachment permit application, Caltrans has requested an article addressing the maintenance of bike paths, lanes and cycle tracks on West Sierra Avenue be added to the agreement. Staff has reviewed the proposed language and has no issues or concerns. There are no other proposed revisions to the Maintenance Agreement at this time.
Overview of the Agreement and Respective Responsibilities. Exhibit A, attached to the draft agreement, shows the areas of State Route 101 to be controlled and maintained by the State. This Exhibit is to be revised in the event future improvements have been constructed or other changes that will affect the division of maintenance responsibilities.
At the Route 101/116 Interchange, the City is to maintain the landscaping in the median islands and street trees as well as irrigation system including the associated electrical service. If the sidewalks need repair due to the landscaping, the City is repair or replace the sidewalks.
At the vehicle and pedestrian undercrossing, the State is responsible for the structure and the City is responsible for maintaining infrastructure related to the travel way (roadway, curbs, sidewalks, wall surfaces, drainage installations, lighting and traffic control facilities).
There are a number of soundwalls and retaining walls in this area. The City is to maintain and repair as needed the musical note motif on the retaining walls and on the sound walls. City is to remove debris, clean and paint wall surfaces as needed on the City’s side of the soundwalls and retaining walls.
The State is responsible for providing efficient operation of freeway interchanges including ramp connections to local streets and roads and for the timing of traffic signals. It is the shared responsibility of both parties to provide for the cost of installation, operation, maintenance, repairs of safety lighting, and traffic control devices at the interchanges. City is also to own and maintain all emergency vehicle pre-emption equipment installed in the State’s traffic controller cabinets at intersections (emergency pre-emption equipment is indicated on Exhibit B to the draft agreement).
Financial Considerations
The financial impact of revising the Caltrans Facility Maintenance Agreement is minor since this is an update to an existing agreement with similar City maintenance responsibilities. City costs to maintain its bicycle paths, lanes, and cycle tracks in these areas have been factored into the adopted budget. If certain features are damaged, and the responsible party does not have insurance, there could be additional one-time costs for the City to repair the damage.
Environmental Issues
The action of executing a freeway maintenance agreement does not constitute a project as defined by California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines Section 15378; therefore, no further environmental review is required.