Agenda Item No: O.1
AGENDA REPORT
DATE: April 15, 2025
TO: Mayor and Council
FROM: David Gassaway, City Manager
SUBJECT: Resolution 2025-60 PW West Texas Complete Streets Award and Fiscal Year 2024- 2025 Budget Update
Approving the Plans and Specifications and Awarding a Contract to Ghilotti Brothers, Inc. for the West Texas Street Complete Streets Project and Authorizing an Update to the Fiscal Year 2024 - 2025 Budget
Funding Source : $11,597,710 ($10,068,180, State Grant [Active Transportation Program]; $284,530, Intergovernmental Loan Fund [Broadband]; $600,000, General Fund [Measure P ]; $300,000, Solid Waste; $345,000 Senate Bill-1)
Contact: David Vong, (707) 428-7748
RECOMMENDED ACTION
Adopt resolution.
STATEMENT OF ISSUE
The Heart of Fairfield Specific Plan (Plan), adopted by the City Council in May 2017, identified the renovation of West Texas Street between Beck and Pennsylvania Avenue as a top priority. These improvements are key to the implementation of the Plan and catalyzing private investment in the Plan area. The City was awarded $10.9 million in federal grant funds in 2021 to fund the construction of the complete streets improvements which were identified by the public through the development of the Plan. This resolution will award a contract in the amount of $10,084,965 for the construction of the West Texas Street Complete Streets Project (CPW070110) to Ghilotti Brothers, Inc. (Ghilotti Bros.) and update the fiscal year (FY) 2024-2025 budget.
DISCUSSION
West Texas Street became a local street when Caltrans rerouted Highway 12 and relinquished the right-of-way for the former Highway 12 to the City in the mid -1990s. The City launched a comprehensive planning process in 2015 to actively engage residents, businesses, property owners, developers, neighborhood representatives, elected and appointed officials, and other
stakeholders to establish a long -term vision t hrough 2040 and beyond for the revitalization of Downtown Fairfield. This plan includes the West Texas Street corridor and the adjacent areas.
The community outreach and engagement process included two workshops, a community open house, online information, surveys, and outreach booths at community events. This process took a year, and 300 people participated.
The public identified the redesign of West Texas Street as a high priority. In addition to helping to catalyze public investment in the area, these i mprovements to West Texas Street were identified as needed to accomplish the public’s goals of:
• Improved traffic flow
• Increased traffic safety
• Improved walkability and bike-ability
• Increased lighting
• Improved overall aesthetics
• Enhanced landscaping
The Plan identified the replacement of the five-lane highway design for West Texas with a three- lane complete streets design. The Plan included Class IV separated bikeways; widened sidewalks, landscaped buffers, and two additional marked crossings: one new traffic signal at 2nd St and one rectangular rapid flashing beacon near 1st Street.
The Complete Streets Plan includes a raised center median between 1st Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, as well as portions of West Texas between Beck Avenue and 5th Street. Center medians prohibit left turns and are considered with special care. Additionally, center medians have the benefit of improving safety and traffic flow. An analysis of crash data for West Texas Street showed that the block between 1st Street and Pennsylvania Avenue had a very high rate of serious collisions. According to a review of 5 years’ worth of data, 35% of crashes and 65% of fatalities along the entire stretch of the Project occurred in this block and involved many turns into or out of driveways. This section of West Texas Street also has a school crossing. Based on the data, a center median in this block was necessary to address this history of issues and provide necessary safety for all mode s of transportation. The median betwe en Beck Avenue and 5 th Street was added for safety and improved traffic flow.
The reduction in vehicle travel lanes from five to three was necessary to achieve the safety goals of the Plan. Although there are fewer lanes in the new design, the clear separation of modes of transportation (i.e., vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians) and the corresponding reduction in the number of accidents provide far smoother and safer traffic flow. Modeling, which has been calibrated with real -world examples shows that the overall capacity of the new three -lane complete streets configuration is only slightly less than the five -lane configuration and has adequate capacity to handle the projected traffic volumes.
The City applied for grant funding for the street improvements in the 2020 Active Transportation Program (ATP) Cycle. The City was notified in 2021 that they were successful and granted $10.9 million in ATP funds. The funds combined with local matching funds provided for the installation of all the proposed street improvements between Beck and Pennsylvania Avenue in a single phase.
The improvement design was recently completed, and the Project was placed on a bid with the engineer’s estimate of $11,274,000. Seven Contractors submitted bids for the Project and bids were opened on March 11, 2025. The apparent low bidder was Ghilotti Bros. of San Rafael in the amount of $10,084,965. Staff reviewed the bid package submitted by Ghilotti Bros. and determined that the bid was responsible and responsive. Staff recommend that the council adopt the attached resolution awarding a contract to Ghilotti Brothers, Inc. for the construction of the Project. The total project authorization is $11,597,710 which includes a 15% contingency to account for potential unforeseen underground utility conflicts during construction.
Construction of the improvements includes a complete renovation of the streets with narrow pavement, widened sidewalks, new driveways, enhanced landscaping, and other street improvements and is expected to take approximately nine months to complete. This level of improvement will impact businesses and traffic during construction. To minimize these impacts, the Project requires the contractor to maintain through traffic, minimize lane closures and flagging, provide notice to property owners of driveway clo sures for replacement and limits the duration that these driveways can be closed. As part of the Project award, three years of ongoing landscape maintenance is included and will be awarded as a separate contract once the project construction is completed.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The construction authorization for this project will be $11,597,710, which is the total bid amount plus a 15% contingency ($10,084,965 total bid + $1,512,745 contingency). Funding for this Project is captured in Project No. CPW070110.
The City has been awarded a total of $1,370,000 of the Regional Transportation Impact Fee (RTIF) for the Project. Amendment 1 to the Solano Transportation Authority (STA) Funding Agreement increased the RTIF by $175,000 from $1,195,000 to $1 ,370,000 for design only. $284,530 from the Intergovernmental Loan Fund (Fund 551) dedicated to Broadband will be transferred to the Project for construction. A total of $ 459,530 ($284,530 + $175,000) will be transferred to the Streets Capital Project Fund (Fund 252; CPW070110) requiring a budget adjustment to the 2024- 2025 Fiscal Year budget.
Project budget savings , accomplished by value engineering and low bids, in the construction budget for FY 2024-2025 Budget will allow a release of $3,480,470 of SB-1 funding (Fund 163) funding from the project. The overall project expenditures will be decreased by $3, 305,470.
Finance has confirmed that adequate reserves in CPW070110 exist and that no projects will be jeopardized by the reallocation of these expenditures.
PUBLIC CONTACT/ADVISORY BODY RECOMMENDATION
In addition to the public outreach associated with the development of the Plan, staff also held a community Open House on November 15, 2023, to inform residents, property , and business owners about the project. The City’s design consultant also worked with City staff to coordinate with approximately 40 property owners to solicit rights -of-entry for construction of the improvements.
After the Project is awarded, staff will work closely with the Marketing and Outreach Division (MOD) team to inform the public of the Project, and the potential impact residents and business owners may experience from construction activities. Once a construction schedule has been solidified, staff will re-engage the public and businesses in the surrounding area.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION
If the council has any questions, the recommended action may be delayed so that staff can provide the necessary background information. Staff does not recommend this, however, as this will delay the delivery of the Project and potentially lose grant funding.
COORDINATED WITH
Finance and Information Technology
STAFF CONTACT
David Vong, Senior Civil Engineer
(707) 428-7748
[email protected]
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 2: Proposed Resolution
Attachment 3: Bid Results
Attachment 4: Project Budget
Attachment 5: STA Funding Agreement RTIF Amendment 1