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Home My WebLink About12/15/2009, C 10 - RAILROAD SAFETY TRAIL PHASE 4A, THE ROTARY SUPPORTED ""MISSING LINK""" council mfttmg 0� 12/15/09 j acEnaa RepoRt CITY OF SAN LUIS O B I S P O FROM: Jay D. Walter, Director of Public Works 99)W Prepared By: Daniel Van Beveren, Senior-Civil'Engineer SUBJECT: RAILROAD SAFETY TRAIL PHASE 4A, THE ROTARY SUPPORTED "MISSING LINK" RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Approve Plans and Specifications for the Railroad Safety Trail Phase 4A, Specification No. 90821 and authorize staff to advertise for bids. 2. Approve the transfer of$60,011 from the Railroad Safety Trail Phase 4 project and $250,000 from the State Highway Account(SHA) into this project's account. 3. Authorize the City Manager to award a construction contract if the lowest responsible bid is within the engineer's estimate of$600,000. DISCUSSION Background The Railroad Safety Trail is a Class I bicycle facility located adjacent to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. The objective of this trail is to provide bicyclists, pedestrians, and other trail users a safe route along the railroad corridor. Phase 4 of the Railroad Safety Trail runs parallel to California Blvd, and extends approximately from Hathway northward to Foothill Blvd and was completed in March 2009. In 2008, Cal Poly completed a section of the Railroad Safety Trail from the City limit line north of Foothill Blvd to Mustang Stadium. Phase 4A of the Railroad Safety Trail will link the Cal Poly segment with the City's Phase 4 segment, and has been referred to as the "missing link". of the Railroad Safety Trail. The Monday Rotary Club has contributed substantial funding toward this connection as described in the fiscal impact. Expanded Scope Early in the design process, it became apparent that in order for the pathway to function safely, an improved pedestrian/bicycle crossing of Foothill Blvd would be a necessary component of the project. Currently, there is no pedestrian crosswalk located along California Blvd where the bike path would cross Foothill Blvd. In order to add this pedestrian/bicycle path crossing, the traffic signal at the intersection of California and Foothill needed to be redesigned. On September 15, 2009, the City Council approved the Biennial Traffic Operations Report. This report discussed needed congestion relief projects in the City and ranked the City's intersections based on the need for improvement. According to the report, the intersection of California and Foothill is the City's highest ranked intersection for the need to increase its capacity. Based on the previous Council action approving the report, and the signal redesign associated with the Railroad Safety Trail, the widening of the intersection at Foothill and California was added to the scope of the Railroad Safety Trail Phase 4A project. 0, /0-� Railroad Safety Trail Phase 4A Page 2 As stated above, the new California/Foothill intersection reflects revisions which increase the vehicle capacity through the intersection. These revisions include an additional through traffic lane on California, and dedicated left turn lanes (two on northbound California and one on southbound California). Additionally, the Class II bike lanes on California will be removed, with revised bike lane striping encouraging bicyclists to use the new Class I bike path. A new traffic signal phase solely dedicated to bicyclists has been included in the new traffic signal design. The plans and specifications have now been completed and are ready to advertise for construction bids. This phase of the Railroad Safety Plan consists of the construction of a new Class 1 bike facility between the Foothill Blvd and the northern City limit (see attached Vicinity Map), and associated intersection improvements as discussed within this report. CONCURRENCES The Community Development Department has approved the environmental clearance of this project through an Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act. The Bicycle Committee is supportive of the project and has identified the Railroad Safety Trail (along with the Bob Jones Trail) as the highest priority projects in the City's Bicycle Transportation Plan. The Community has expressed support for the project. Of particular note is the Monday Rotary Club, which has provided a $50,000 donation (and additional private donations totaling $35,000) to assist in the construction funding of the project. This donation was approved by Council on May 5, 2008. FISCAL IMPACT There is currently $670,000 available for project funding. The funding sources are shown in the following table. Project Funding Sources Current Current • PrivatePhase 4 Phase 4A Account D. .. - Desi n $1,513 $1,513 Construction $33,446 $273,476 $250,000 $85,000 $641,922 Const. Management $26,565 $26,565 Total $60,011 $274,989 $250,000 $85,000 $670,000 The recommended action will consolidate the available funding into the construction phase of the project. Cia-a Railroad Safety Trail Phase 4A Page 3 Project Costs En ineees Estimate $600,000 Contingencies $60,000 Testing and Misc Project Costs $10,000 Total Project Budget $670,000 ALTERNATIVE Deny the project. If the project is not approved, the missing link between the two completed sections of the Railroad Safety Trail will not be completed. Donations in the amount of$85,000 will be lost, as will grant funding in the amount of$250,000. ATTACHMENT Vicinity Map AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW IN THE COUNCIL OFFICE Plans and Specifications for the Railroad Safety Trail Phase 4A project. T:\Council Agenda Reports\Public Worts CAR\2009\CIP\90821 Railroad Safety Trail Phase 4A\90821 CAR approve PS&E.doc CIS- 3 ,. ,.,> �� : ,��:,:,� ail � � � i �Y �+. ��, '.: 3 ' I T47th� P:�.. _ as lye L � '�� .I - , t!. ✓r ■ 11.1 ' a`�� +!]G .1.., ..�n �� :iI'�� a:.ii',i�.�.� ��1 '.ami'.a.:•.♦ I.� � _ ] � 1�� ]lii]M�1 i9 'a:G�� ..,� n � � �� _ Ifi�7 � (� r �T,�a� �IIIIII�II�� '�. r � �; r..7 � �� ua: ,- i / r e� ��► d ✓ / � 1 .�,�T .� ♦ .� 1 1 ', �' + ♦ �� - - .° I .;