Final phase of Bridge St. project OK'd

Mar. 4—After beginning the process of taking bids in late December last year, the Yuba City City Council unanimously approved contracts Tuesday for the final phase of the Bridge Street widening project.

According to the city, construction is expected to begin this spring and continue through January 2023. The total cost of the project is estimated at $10.2 million.

The contracts that were approved Tuesday by the council will facilitate the widening of the final section of Bridge Street from Gray Avenue to Cooper Avenue. Doing so will create a continuous four-lane road from Highway 99 east to the Fifth Street Bridge.

The work in Yuba City coincides with Marysville's construction on the other side of the bridge along Fifth Street through its 5th Street Rehabilitation Project.

As previously reported by the Appeal, the Marysville project is a complete rehabilitation of the Fifth Street corridor from the E Street intersection to the J Street intersection. It includes structural road rehabilitation from curb to curb with pedestrian accessibility improvements at all intersections, driveways, and alley crossings, the addition of a pedestrian crossing signal at F Street, and upgrade to the traffic signal at H Street for pedestrian access and additional turning movements, according to the staff report.

According to the city, landscape and storm drain systems also will be updated.

Much like Marysville's efforts to get Fifth Street improved, the Bridge Street widening project in Yuba City has been a yearslong process.

"Improving Yuba City's infrastructure is one of our Council's strategic goals," Yuba City Mayor Dave Shaw said in a statement. "Widening our entire Bridge Street corridor has been a project 20 plus years in the making. Now that the actual bridge is four lanes, this final phase of widening Bridge Street will ease one of the worst traffic bottle-necks in town."

Along with the widening of Bridge Street from Gray Avenue to Cooper Avenue, improvements that will be made include a bicycle pathway, raised landscape median, new synchronized traffic signals and dedicated ADA-accessible sidewalks and crosswalks for pedestrians.

The city also said there will be "ample room" for on-street parking on both sides of Bridge Street to maintain a "neighborhood feel." In addition, in an effort to mitigate the amount of noise from traffic on the north side of Bridge Street, the project will include a block wall to replace the existing wood fences, the city said.

In order to facilitate the widening of Bridge Street, properties needed to complete the project were acquired through voluntary property sales. The city said no eminent domain was used.

The $10.2 million project includes a construction contract for $8,054,003 that was awarded to Knife River Construction of Chico. It also includes $1.2 million for construction contingencies, more than $814,000 to Knight CM Group of Gold River for construction management and about $168,000 for labor compliance services, design services and city administration costs.

The city said four construction bids were received that ranged from the accepted $8,054,003 to $8,900,045. Knife River Construction completed an earlier phase of the widening project that took place between Cooper Avenue and Plumas Street.

The city said funding for the project is partly funded by an award from the California Transportation Commission for $2.8 million. Further funding includes $2.63 million from the city's Development Impact Fee account, $1.73 million from state Transportation Development Act funds, $2.28 million from gas tax funds accrued in the city's Road Maintenance and Rehab account, and $775,000 from the city's sewer and water infrastructure fund accounts.

Yuba City Deputy Public Works Director Kevin Bradford said as work is being done along Bridge Street that the flow of traffic will be maintained.

"Not only does Bridge Street have one of the worst bottlenecks and worst road conditions in town, it has water and sewer infrastructure in need of replacement. This is a much-needed project from so many angles," Bradford said in a statement. "Council members and city staff have worked extensively behind the scenes for many years to obtain the grant funding and coordinate the logistics on this massive project. It's going to be a tremendous benefit to Yuba City when finished."