Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: REGULAR AGENDA (ACTION)
To: City Council
Subject: HIGHWAY 116/WEST COTATI AVENUE INTERSECTION
SAFETY IMPROVEMENT UPDATE
Date: April 28, 2026
Written by: Damien O'Bid, City Manager
Recommendation
It is recommended that the City Council receive an update on the status of the design of the Highway 116/West Cotati Avenue Intersection Safety project and provide comment, if any.
Background
To improve the safety of Highway 116, the City of Cotati is taking the lead on the intersection design on this State roadway at West Cotati Avenue. In addition to safety, the design is intended to improve connectivity for other modes of transportation by creating a safe crossing point ahead of planned future development that is important in meeting the City‘s Regional Housing Needs Allocation requirement.
Analysis/Discussion
The City submitted the 65% design package to Caltrans on April 16, 2026 for review, concurrently with the final Design Engineering Evaluation Report (DEER). The design closely follows the various Caltrans highway design standards. The DEER package is a streamlined approval process that includes the Location map, Geometric Approval Drawing, Intersection Safety and Operational Assessment Process (ISOAP) Stage 1, Performance Checks and Memorandum, DEER Traffic Memorandum, Draft Stormwater Data Report (SWDR), Draft Initial Site Assessment (ISA), Draft Materials Report, and Traffic Management Plan (TMP) Data Sheet.
The attached figure is the landscape rendering, to provide an easily readable overview of the current state of the project design. The project is on schedule to be ready to bid by the end of calendar 2026.
Financial Considerations
The 65% design package includes an engineers’ cost estimate of $7.8M or $9.4M with a 20% contingency. Additional work still needs to be done to parse costs related to the northern edge of Highway 116, which are the responsibility of the adjacent property owners. In any case, additional funding will be needed to move this project into the construction phase. Current funding secured includes $2M in local and federal grants.
Environmental Issues
The proposed action is only to provide feedback on the 65% design. Although environmental review of the project has been previously approved by the City Council, updates to the CEQA and NEPA reviews are being conducted on the final roundabout intersection design for future approval.