March 16, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kayla Woods, Corporate Communications Manager, League of California Cities, (530) 844-1744, kwoods@cacities.org

 Sara Floor, Communications Manager, California State Association of Counties, (916) 926-8769, sfloor@counties.org

SACRAMENTO – The League of California Cities (Cal Cities), County Engineers Association of California (CEAC) and California State Association of Counties® (CSAC) are proud to announce the winners of the 2021 Outstanding Local Streets and Roads (LSR) Project Awards. Counties and cities throughout California were recognized for creative and cost-effective projects that improve local streets, roads, and bridges.

Sponsored by Cal Cities, CEAC, and CSAC, the Outstanding LSR Project Awards Program also highlights cities and counties that promote fiscal and environmental sustainability in the local transportation system. Due to COVID-19, these awards will be presented virtually.

“Despite a global pandemic, substantial reductions in revenues, and the worst wildfire season in our state’s history, cities and counties continued to deliver on important transportation projects,” said Cal Cities Department of Public Works President and Pomona Public Works Director Rene Guerrero. “California’s public works professionals answered the call with innovation and excellence to improve safety and accessibility to roadways for residents in ways that can serve as a model for the state and nation.”

This year’s top winner, the City of Santa Rosa, is recognized for its innovation and adaptability for both the use of Alternative Design/Alternative Bidding and recycling the existing roadway, thus reducing trucks on the road and keeping materials out of the landfill. The city also claimed honors in the Safety/Intelligent Transportation Systems Projects category.

“Public works is a lot more than just filling potholes,” said County Engineers Association of California President and San Mateo County Director of Public Works Jim Porter “Local governments are following through with the promises of SB 1, using sustainable materials, promoting multimodal improvements and enhancing safety for all users.”

Brief descriptions of the winning projects are included below. Full descriptions of all the winners and finalists are available on the Save California Streets website at https://www.savecaliforniastreets.org/award-program/award-winners. 

OVERALL WINNER

City of Santa Rosa
Fulton Road Reconstruction – Occidental Road to W. 3^rd Street
The City of Santa Rosa’s Fulton Road Reconstruction project between Occidental Road and W. 3rd Street repaired approximately 0.6 miles of 4-lane pavement and associated bike lanes. This street is separated by a landscaped median and sees a remarkable 25,000 vehicles per direction per day. The project utilized Alternative Design/Alternative Bid bidding and subsequently saved the city over $1 million in construction costs. Positive environmental effects were also achieved since the city recycled the existing roadway verse placing new material, which eliminated the need to off-haul and place over 5,000 cubic yards of material in landfill. It also reduced the need for roughly 500 dump trucks. Furthermore, as the Tubbs Fire in 2017 heavily impacted the region, Fulton Road was designed to meet the burden of heavy truck traffic while providing safe long-term access. When the Kincade Fire occurred on Oct. 23, 2019, Fulton Road was actively under construction. The City of Santa Rosa and their contractor, Ghilotti Brothers, acted quickly to make the road a drivable evacuation route for those fleeing the fire’s path. The many lessons learned during this project can act as an example in the quest for innovative and sustainable infrastructure projects state-wide.

EFFICIENT AND SUSTAINABLE BRIDGE MAINTENANCE, CONSTRUCTION AND RECONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

County of Placer
Bowman Road Bridges Rehabilitation Project

In 2020, the County of Placer completed a rehabilitation of the Bowman Road Bridges focusing on cost effectiveness, sustainability, and minimal community disruption. The two bridges, which cross Union Pacific Railroad mainlines and were built in 1949, had multiple material, seismic, and safety issues. The county studied bridge replacement against rehabilitation to find the most cost-effective option for widening the sidewalks, bike lanes, and making alignment and structural/seismic upgrades. The county was able to upgrade the bridges to accommodate modern truck loads, while preserving more than 90 percent of the existing structure and extending the life of the bridges for decades to come. Additional community outreach was required to allow special considerations for pedestrians and cyclists during the required nine-month construction project, and critical utility coordination was successful in ensuring uninterrupted gas service to the community. For more details on this bridge reconstruction and community relations outreach, visit: https://bowmanbridges.com/project-news/.
 

COMPLETE STREETS PROJECTS

City of Oakland
Telegraph Avenue Paving and Lane Conversion Project

Telegraph Avenue is a 4.5 mile street that begins in the historic downtown district of Oakland and ends at the southern edge of the University of California, Berkeley. The busy corridor is home to businesses, shops, restaurants, and residences within the Temescal District commercial area. Plagued by narrow streets, potholes, and a long history of tragic crashes, Telegraph Avenue’s condition made it unsafe for all users. After a decade of shelved plans for improvements, Telegraph Avenue was transformed through an innovative combination of reduced travel lanes, the installation of crosswalk enhancements, bulb-outs, median refuges, Americans with Disability Act compliant curb ramps, rectangular rapid flashing beacons, and a road diet with bicycle lanes to enable safe access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit riders of all ages and abilities.

EFFICIENT AND SUSTAINABLE ROAD MAINTENANCE, CONSTRUCTION AND RECONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

City of Santa Clarita
Citywide Overlay and Slurry Project

The City of Santa Clarita, the third-largest city in Los Angeles County, strives to maximize resources when managing its growing pavement infrastructure. The city employs a 5-year pavement management plan to treat pavement infrastructure and utilizes several different methods to promote sustainability and maximize the use of recycled materials. The city recently utilized a thin maintenance pavement overlay which is a specialized treatment with a recycled rubber component. The treatment is applied more thinly than a traditional overlay and requires less material application, while also providing structural integrity needed to significantly treat and extend pavement life. The city also incorporates cold-in-place recycling and an asphalt rubberized hot mix which makes use of 15-20 percent recycled crumb rubber from recycled tires. By utilizing local recycled materials, the city reduces its carbon footprint, overhead costs, and is able to treat more streets with the cost savings.

SAFETY OR INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM PROJECTS

City of Santa Rosa
Flashing Yellow Left Turn Arrow Retrofit

In 2020, the City of Santa Rosa completed the Flashing Yellow Left Turn Arrow (FYA) retrofit project which updated 37 signalized intersections. A FYA signal head is a four-head signal assembly that functions very much like a dedicated left-hand turn signal, with the major difference being a flashing yellow phase prior to the solid yellow arrow. This additional phase allows vehicles to make a left-hand turn after yielding to oncoming vehicles, bicyclists, and pedestrians. The new FYA assembly has shown to be much more effective in terms of response to the display, crash reduction, reduced delay and congestion, and reduced driver frustration. Funding source restrictions required city staff to design and construct the project by utilizing existing infrastructure only, however, based on data collected nationwide, the city is confident this project will result in a reduction of collisions for left-hand turn movement in intersections where flashing yellow arrow assemblies were installed.
 

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