Item Number: 15
City Council / Board of Directors
Written Communications
Meeting of: October 7, 2025
Submitted By:
Fredy Bonilla, City Engineer
Subject:
Budget Amendment for Federal Bridge Formula Program Grant Funds - Bear Valley Road Overhead at BNSF Railroad Project
Recommendation:
That the Honorable City Council adopt Resolution No. 25-069 to amend the Fiscal Year 2025/2026 Budget appropriating additional revenue up to $1,430,291 from Bridge Formula Program grant funds for the Bear Valley Road Overhead at BNSF Railroad Project.
Fiscal Impact:
The recommended action will result in additional revenue appropriation of up to $1,430,291 of grant funding. The attached Resolution No. 25-069 (Attachment A) will amend the budget to reflect the additional revenue. The Federal Highway Program (“HBP”) funding will be used to reimburse Road Development Impact Fee (DIF) funds, Fund 352, previously committed to the project for construction and construction engineering. Table 1 below shows the account code, fund name, and additional appropriation amount.
Table 1
Account Code Fund Name Additional Appropriation
2754500-43120-60014 Federal Grant $1,430,291
Strategic Plan Goal:
This item aligns with “Goal E - Invest in Infrastructure” in the City of Victorville Strategic Plan 2023-2026, Strategy 11. This increase in federal funding for the Bear Valley Road Overhead at BNSF Railroad Project will reimburse the local Road DIF funds previously committed to the project, allowing those funds to be redirected to other roadway infrastructure improvements within the City.
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Background:
The Bear Valley Road Overhead at BNSF Railroad (“BVOH”) project widened both sides of the bridge on Bear Valley Road over the BNSF Railroad to provide standard lane widths, shoulders, and accommodate a double east-bound left turn lane from Bear Valley Road to Ridgecrest Road. A right turn lane from westbound Bear Valley Road to Ridgecrest Road was also constructed. The road approaches to the bridge were widened from Industrial Boulevard to east of Ridgecrest Road. The traffic signal poles at both intersections were replaced to accommodate the widened road. The project also included sidewalk and adequate width for future bike lanes to cross over the bridge. Please see the attached map and aerial view of the project for reference (Attachment B).
On November 7, 2017, the City Council approved an Overpass Agreement with BNSF Railway Co. (BNSF). Through this agreement BNSF permitted the construction to widen the bridge and granted easements to the City. The agreement required that the City compensate for any tasks performed by BNSF related to construction in the BNSF Right- of-way or affecting the railroad traffic.
On June 18, 2019, the City Council approved a Project Funding Agreement with the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA). On July 24, 2020, HBP grant funds were authorized by Caltrans Local Assistance and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for construction in the amount of $5,540,111.68.
On December 15, 2020, the City Council amended a Consultant / Professional Services Provider Agreement with Dokken Engineering for design support during construction for a total amount not to exceed of $246,875. Furthermore, the City Council approved a budget amendment per Resolution 20-110 to appropriate and expend $139,448 of Road DIF funds for this service.
On May 18, 2021, the City Council approved Amendment No. 1 to the Project Funding Agreement with SBCTA, which increased both the City and SBCTA funding commitments to the project based on a higher construction cost estimate.
Additionally, on May 18, 2021, the City Council approved a Consultant / Professional Services Provider Agreement with Parsons Transportation Group, Inc., for the Bear Valley Road Overhead at BNSF Railroad Project construction management in an amount not to exceed $1,613,726.04.
On June 15, 2021, the City Council approved the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021/22 Budget including the appropriation and expenditure of $5,540,112 of Federal Highway Improvement Program (HIP) grant funds, $2,284,803 of Federal HPB funds, and $1,500,000 of Road DIF funds for the project.
On September 7, 2021, the City Council awarded a construction contract to the Riverside Construction Company in the amount not to exceed $9,818,512.60. On March 7, 2022, Riverside Construction began construction of the Project. 4 3
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On June 21, 2022, the City Council approved the FY 2022/23 Budget including the appropriation and expenditure of $2,408,173 of Road DIF funds for the project.
On June 27, 2022, Federal Highway Improvement Program (HIP) grant funds were authorized by Caltrans Local Assistance and FHWA in the amount of $2,117,110.08.
These funds were programmed in accordance with the agreement between the City and SBCTA.
On June 20, 2023, a budget amendment including the revenue and expense of $1,768,829 of Federal Bridge NHPP grant funds authorized by Caltrans Local Assistance was approved by the City Council. Additionally, Contract Change Order No. 1 authorizing payment to the contractor in the amount of $1,501,900 for project overruns caused by BNSF monitoring, inspection, and delays was also approved.
On October 17, 2023, Amendment No. 1 to the Consultant / Professional Services Provider Agreement with Parsons Transportation Group in the amount of $260,000 was approved by the City Council due to project construction overruns and delays.
On January 17, 2024, after all construction related activities were finalized, the project was considered substantially complete by Engineering Department staff.
On May 7, 2024, Contract Change Order Nos. 2, 3, & 4 to Riverside Construction Company in the amount of $678,722.24 and Amendment No. 2 to Parsons Transportation Group, Inc., in the amount of $150,000.00 was approved by the City Council, which also amended FY 2023/24 Budget to reflect an additional appropriation of $828,722.24 from Fund 352 to cover the project expenses required to close out the project.
On June 18, 2024, the City Council accepted as complete and approved the Notice of Completion (NOC) for the project and authorized the City Manager to execute the NOC which was subsequently recorded on July 11, 2024.
Discussion:
To close out the construction phase of the project, the Engineering Department received City Council approval in May 2024 to use Road DIF funds (Fund 352) to cover cost overruns, with a commitment to pursue additional funding sources.
Following project completion and full expenditure of construction contract costs, Engineering Staff collaborated with the design consultant and construction management teams to identify eligible costs, specifically those related to change orders, delays, and extra work that may qualify for federal reimbursement.
An HBP Cost Change Request was submitted to Caltrans on April 15, 2024, seeking additional HBP funds and went through a thorough review process by Caltrans's Local Assistance and Headquarters. Due to the highly competitive nature of HBP funding and Caltrans’ limited Obligation Authority (OA), funds could not be committed immediately. 4 3
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However, in August 2025, Caltrans notified the City that Bridge Formula Program (BFP) funds, a component of HBP, had become available due to reallocation from other projects.
At Caltrans’ request, an updated Adjustment Request was submitted on August 26, 2025.
On September 9, 2025, Local Assistance confirmed that the project's authorizing document (E-76) was revised to reflect the approval of additional federal funding (Attachment C). This revision authorizes the City to submit a claim for reimbursement at the maximum federal participation rate for eligible construction and construction management expenses already incurred.
The City is now positioned to seek reimbursement of up to $1,430,291. However, the final reimbursable amount will depend on Caltrans’ review of qualifying expenses and potential negotiation to increase reimbursement limits. This process is standard for HBP funding, which is subject to competitive allocation and administrative timelines.
Table 2 below represents the current total construction costs that qualify for reimbursement, total current federal funding authorized before approval of this budget amendment, and the individual federal grant names with account code and amounts for the qualified construction contract and construction management expenditure categories of the project the grants cover.
Table 2
Federal HBP Federal HIP Federal Bridge
NHPP
Total
Construction
Cost
Eligible for
Federal
Reimbursement
Total Federal
Funds
2754500 257502N 2754500
Construction
Contract $11,999,135 $8,026,968 $4,875,298 $1,604,191 $1,547,479 Construction
Management $2,067,216 $1,399,082 $664,813 $512,919 $221,350 Construction
Total $14,066,351 $9,426,050 $5,540,111 $2,117,110 $1,768,829 Table 3 below represents the additional Federal HBP grant funding that can be reimbursed to the City and the total grant funding that has been made available for the construction contract and construction management expenditure categories as noted in Table 2. Table 3 also includes a column representing the total qualified Road DIF expenditures to date by category that could be partially reimbursed from the additional Federal Grant funding.
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Table 3
Additional Federal
Grant Allocation
HBP/BFP
2754500
Total Federal Funds
with Added Grant
Road DIF Revenue
(Previously Commit
to Project)
3524500
Construction Contract $1,176,083 $9,203,051 $3,750,816
Construction
Management $254,208 $1,653,290 $951,114
Total $1,430,291 $10,856,341 $4,701,930
The total federal funding made available for the construction and construction management phase of this project is $10,856,341, which is about 77% of the construction cost. Although only part of the project was eligible for federal funding, other federal grant funding was made available and used for additional phases of the project, including final engineering of the plans and specifications, as well as right-of-way acquisition, which are not listed herein. The Federal HBP and Bridge NHPP funded the bridge and road approaches to approximately 500-feet from the ends of the bridge. The road approach construction extended approximately 1,000 feet east and west from the ends of the bridge. The remainder of the project costs were funded by the Federal HIP and local Road DIF funds (Fund No. 352).
Staff anticipates that the City will receive 100% of the additional grant funding for the construction contract, totaling $1,176,083. However, due to a cap on the allowable reimbursement ratio for project management costs, only a portion of the $254,208 requested for construction management is expected to be reimbursed, and the total amount the City will receive remains unknown at this time. Since Road DIF funds were used to cover project costs not covered by grants, any federal reimbursement received will be credited back to Road DIF, Fund 352. Reimbursing the Road DIF Fund will enable the City to budget this funding for other future road capacity improvement projects.
The total estimated cost of the project based upon expenditure reports to date for all categories of work is as follows:
Legal $ 58,613.59
Administrative $ 1,381.29
Design Consultant $ 919,971.20
Support Services During Construction $ 95,667.71 ROW - Acquisition $ 246,666.00
Environmental / Permits $ 13,816.94
DBE / Labor Compliance $ 58,683.32
Construction Management $ 2,099,522.14
Construction $ 11,999,134.84
$ 15,493,457.03
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Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Resolution No. 25-069 to amend the Fiscal Year 2025/2026 budget to reflect an additional revenue appropriation up to $1,430,291 from Federal Highway Bridge Program grant funding for the BVOH Project to reimburse the qualifying expenditures incurred by Road DIF, Fund 352.
Staff is available for any questions the Council may have.
Prepared By:
Harry Mayo, Senior Civil Engineer
Ximena Zambrano, Assistant Engineer II
Attachments: A. Resolution 25-069
B. Project Map and Aerial View
C. Finance Letter