1 AGENDA ITEM – STAFF REPORT
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND COUNCILMEMBERS
FROM: MICHAEL OSBORN, CITY ENGINEER
VIA: CRISTIAN GONZALEZ, CITY MANAGER
SUBJECT: CITY STREET PROJECT UPDATE
DATE: AUGUST 26, 2025
ISSUE
The City of Mendota (City) has many street projects in various stages of implementation; the Council has requested a status update from the City Engineer on all current street projects.
BACKGROUND
The City owns and maintains approximately 31 centerline miles of public roadways. This accounts for a large portion of the City’s infrastructure, along with water, sewer, storm drainage and park facilities. Much of the existing asphalt pavement is aging and in poor condition.
Nationwide, asphalt pavement is qualitatively assessed using a Pavement Condition Index (PCI), which is a metric that scales from 1 to 100, with 100 being brand new asphalt pavement and 1 being pavement that has been reduced to gravel. The statewide average PCI is 65 and the City’s current PCI is 39; other similar sized agencies have a PCI of 50.
In most years, the City undertakes one or two street projects based on available budget (ranging from $1 million to $2 million), which is beneficial and has helped maintain the overall PCI, but it is not able to improve the overall PCI. The City would need approximately $20 million dollars to improve the overall PCI to the statewide average.
Over the last couple of years, City staff, its consultants, and City Council members have increased their efforts in applying for and securing outside funding to improve the City’s overall street network. The city has been successful in these efforts and is in the process of delivering more street improvement projects than at any other point in City history.
Currently, the outside funding is coming through the following programs:
• Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG)
• Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ)
• Congressional Project Funding (CPF)
ANALYSIS
The attached list of current street projects shows the location, project costs, funding source(s) and milestones.
2 There is currently almost three centerline miles of streets, one major intersection and three railroad crossings designed and/or in construction with approximately one more mile funded with grants to start in the next calendar year. This is over 10% of the City’s street network.
The STBG and CMAQ funds are from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), programmed by staff at the Fresno Council of Governments in the Federal Transportation Improvement Plan (FTIP) and are administered by Caltrans District Local Assistance.
The CPF funds are from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Recent reductions in staffing from DOGE cuts at the Federal level have severely reduced communications with HUD staff and personnel changes have made it difficult to secure the formal grant agreement to allow the City to utilize and seek reimbursement from the $5 million CPF grant.
Most of the street projects are improvements to existing facilities and are Categorically Exempt under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); Notices of Exemptions have been filed with the State Clearinghouse for them. Amador and Smoot Street Extension was assessed as part of the adopted Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration CEQA document for the RojasPierce Park Expansion Project which is also filed with the State Clearinghouse. When Federal funding (i.e., FHWA & HUD) is involved in a project, the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) clearance must also be obtained. For the FHWA funds, this process is undertaken by Caltrans Environmental Staff, often with requirements for additional studies. Both Amador & Smoot and 5th & Quince projects have been determined to require additional studies, as follows:
• 5th & Quince is required to have an Interagency Consultation (IAC) with FCOG for project level conformity determination because of the proposed modifications to the 5th & Derrick intersection
• Amador & Smoot is required to have additional Traffic, Air Quality, Noise, Water Quality, Cultural, and Farmland studies provided to Caltrans This IAC and additional studies will delay the authorization of construction funding from FHWA/Caltrans for these two projects.
In order to avoid similar studies and delays for the Divisadero Street Reconstruction project, the local street section from Juanita to Inez and Inez to Airport Blvd was removed from the scope of this project and will be included in the 2024 Local Street Reconstruction project. This is both a time and financial advantage as it will allow authorization of the federal funding for construction of Divisadero Street to occur as soon as possible and, instead of the City using local street funds to pay for the local street section without reimbursement, the local section will be fully reimbursed from the CPF/HUD funding for the 2024 Local Street Reconstruction project.
Despite the lack of communications with HUD, we have proceeded with preparing the necessary NEPA “cross cutter” documents that we know HUD requires based on prior experience, which are now published on the City’s website for public review. Once this review period closes and any public comments are addressed, NEPA clearance will be obtained and the City will be one 3 step closer to being able to utilize the funding for construction of the 2024 Local Street Reconstruction project.
For FHWA funds through Caltrans, Right of Way (ROW) clearance must also be obtained to ensure the City has the underlying rights to do the work proposed. Most of the projects are fully within existing public street right of way. Amador and Smoot are new street segments being constructed on the land donated to the City by Westlands Water District. The means in which the City acquired this land has come into question by Caltrans ROW staff as the acquisition did not follow Federal regulations, and we are now having difficulty obtaining ROW clearance for this project.
For FHWA funds through Caltrans, there is also the process to make sure impacted utilities have agreements in place, that disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE) goals and opportunities are provided and all federal labor requirements are being met.
All but one of the Caltrans administered projects are fully designed and ready for construction with authorization for funding pending.
The Citywide Railroad Corridor Improvement project requires the coordination with California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR), Genesee Wyoming Railroad (GWRR), San Joaquin Valley Railroad (SJVRR), and Caltrans. We have recently made connections with the new project managers at the railroad companies, and this project is again moving forward. While the City’s street design is complete, SJVRR/UPRR has to design their concrete panel crossings and agreements have to be put in place between the rail companies and the City and with Caltrans, separately, before work can commence. We are currently exploring Measure C funds that have been reserved for use on SR 33/Derrick Avenue to cover costs associated with the SR 33/Derrick Avenue crossing and reduce the impacts to City’s local street funds. Once the railroad’s design is complete and agreements are in place, we can request funding authorization for construction. This process is expected to take several months.
The cost of the 2024 Local Street Reconstruction Project is estimated to exceed the project’s budget. Initially, the budget was $5 million in CPF/HUD funds plus the $2 million in City Water Enterprise fund. However, due to critical needs of Water Enterprise Funds for the Westside Water Tank & Pump Station and emergency repairs at the Water Treatment Plant, there is approximately $500,000 available for the water infrastructure repairs involved in the 2024 Local Street Reconstruction Project. Additionally, geotechnical investigation and testing of the underlying soils found sulfate levels far too high for full-depth reclamation with cement treated base (FDR-C), so the pavement reconstruction will be achieved by conventional reconstruction with a mechanical stabilization layer to reduce the amount of imported aggregate base; this method is more expensive than FDR-C but less expensive than conventional reconstruction alone. The estimated total project cost of the 2024 Local Street Reconstruction Project is $9.97 million. Therefore, staff recommends that the following street segments be removed from the project:
• Fourth Street (L to H Street) – $554,070 in Water Fund & $1,227,645 in CPF • I Street – $414,128 in Water Fund & $1,161,334 in CPF 4 Further, staff recommends that the following street segments be included in the project as “Additive Alternates” so if the base bid comes in below budget, the City has the option to include one or both of these segments, but if the base bid comes in as estimated, neither of these segments would be included. The Additive Alternate segments would be:
• Rio Frio Street (6th to 7th only) - $153,098 in Water Fund & $707,956 in CPF • Quince Street – $148,731 in Water Fund & $529,487 in CPF With the recommendations above, excluding Additive Alternates, the total project costs are estimated at $5,427,758 which is within the budget of both the Water Fund and CPF for this project.
All four of the street segments bulleted above are fully designed and could be packaged as a separate project(s) when additional funding is found.
FISCAL IMPACT
This item is informational only and has no direct fiscal impact.
In total, the City has received $12,117,624 in outside funding for the implementation of the current street projects.
RECOMMENDATION
This item is informational only.
Attachment:
1. Current list of City Street Projects
FY 2025-2026 City of Mendota Street Projects
Project Name Type of Project Location(s)
Functional
Classification
Total Project
Costs Street Water STBG CMAQ CPF Other Design CEQA NEPA Permits
& Agmts ROW
Funding
Authorized
Bid
Solicitation Begin End Notes:
Citywide Railroad Corridor Improvement Project Reconstruction RRXG's at SR 33, 9th & Belmont Arterial & Collector $ 1,600,000 $ 863,785 $ 736,215 (see notes) 90% 100% 20% 20% 0% No Exploring the use of Measure C funds for SR33
crossing to reduce local funds
Derrick & Oller Roundabout New Intersection Intersection of SR 33 & SR 180 Arterial $ 4,500,000 $ 801,543 $ 2,448,457 $ 1,250,000 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Yes Dec-24 Apr-25 Nov-25 5th & Quince Street Reconsruction Reconstruction 5th Street SR 33 to Quince Collector $ 1,194,500 $ 396,746 $ 797,754 100% 100% 50% 50% 80% No NEPA is requiring Interagency Consultation Quince St 5th to 6th Local
Amador & Smoot Street Extension New Street Segments South and west sides of Rojas Pierce Park Collector $ 1,049,987 $ 149,946 $ 750,008 $ 150,033 100% 100% 50% 100% 20% No NEPA is requiring additional studies;
Land acquisition causing issues with ROW Cert
Divisadero Street Reconstruction Reconstruction Lolita to Juanita Collector $ 1,287,795 $ 302,638 $ 985,157 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% No Expecting Authorization 2025 Local Street Reconstruction $ 5,500,000 $ 500,000 $ 5,000,000 100% 100% 80% 20% 100% No Need Grant Agreement Fourth Street Reconstruction L to H St Local $ 1,781,715 $ 554,070 $ 1,227,645 recommend to remove from scope Fourth Street Reconstruction Rio Frio to Oller Local $ 1,065,525 $ - $ 1,065,525 I Street Reconstruction Kate to Divisadero Local $ 1,575,462 $ 414,128 $ 1,161,334 recommend to remove from scope Kate Street Reconstruction I to northern limits Local $ 156,194 $ - $ 156,194 Lolita Street Reconstruction Divisadero to 10th Local $ 1,588,717 $ 192,610 $ 1,396,107 9th Street Restriping Marie to eastern limits Local $ 17,250 $ - $ 17,250 Rio Frio Street Reconstruction 4th to 5th & 6th to 7th Local $ 861,054 $ 153,098 $ 707,956 recommend as Add Alternate Quince Street Reconstruction 10th to 11th Local $ 678,218 $ 148,731 $ 529,487 recommend as Add Alternate Jennings Street Rehabilitation 9th to 11th Local $ 601,471 $ - $ 601,471 Tule Street Reconstruction 7th to 9th Local $ 955,839 $ 234,146 $ 721,693 Divisadero & Inez Reconstruction Juanita to Airport Blvd Local $ 688,784 $ - $ 688,784 Subtotal - All Segements $ 9,970,228 $ - $ 1,696,783 $ - $ - $ 8,273,445 $ - Subtotal - without Fourth St (L-H), I St, Quince St, Rio Frio (6th-7th) $ 5,427,758 $ - $ 426,756 $ - $ - $ 5,001,002 $ - Upcoming Grant Funded Projects
7th Street Pavement Rehabilitation Rehabilitation Unida to Naples Collector $ 2,355,666 $ 476,863 $ 1,878,803 0% Awarded by FCOG in August 2025 Alley Paving New Construction Remaining unpaved alleys on eastside N/A $ 1,478,329 $ 515,355 $ 962,974 0% Awarded by FCOG in August Naples Street Reconstruction Reconstruction 5th to 8th Collector $ 2,058,061 $ 416,619 $ 1,641,442 0% Awarded by FCOG in August 2nd Street Stormwater Project Reconstruction Naples to Bass, "Triangle Park" & Bass Ave Collector $ 7,500,000 $ - $ 7,500,000 30% 100% 100% Grant Application in final stages of review at
Waterboard
Funding sources Milestones
Local State/Federal Preconstruction Construction