Amador County – The Amador County Transportation Commission has called a special meeting for 5 p.m. Thursday, April 12, to consider hiring Dokken Engineering to complete a “Project Approval and Environmental Document” for the Highway 88 Pine Grove Corridor Improvement Project, which would work to streamline traffic flow through the unincorporated town.
Planner and Program Manager Neil Peacock in a report for ACTC’s Thursday meeting recommended the Commission “receive the Consultant Selection Committee’s recommendation, review the consultant’s scope of work and cost proposal, and authorize the Chairman to execute a contract with Dokken” for “completion of Project Approval & Environmental Document” on the project.
Peacock said the project status is that it has had “comprehensive preliminary analysis” by the “Project Development Team and public input has been received on a total of 17 different alternatives representing” a “reasonable range of alternatives” to improve the Pine Grove Corridor, as required by state and federal environmental agencies.
Peacock said 15 alternatives were rejected and one remained, besides the “no build alternative.” The one remaining project is “a constrained, Context Sensitive Solutions” alternative “that will implement various safety, operational and congestion-relief design strategies as well as streetscape and aesthetic enhancements throughout the Pine Grove Corridor.”
The final project would “improve the existing facility to the maximum extent feasible, given the constraints that exist throughout the corridor, while minimizing any potential community impacts that might result,” Peacock said. He said: “This alternative is financially feasible, appears acceptable to the majority of stakeholders, and is expected to meet the project’s Purpose and Need through further refinement.”
The Consultant Selection Committee, featuring Commissioner Keith Sweet and staff, identified the highest ranked firm and the firm worked with Caltrans to develop a Scope of Work and Cost Proposal. The Committee unanimously selected Dokken from four firms that submitted statements of qualifications. Peacock said based on consultation with Caltrans, “it is now recommended by the Project Design Team that the Dokken contract include all work” for the environmental document and project approval, instead of phasing the work.
The Project Design Team recommended all work be approved because the Team assumes that design refinements and “analysis for the three-lane alternative will demonstrate that it satisfactorily meets all aspects of the project’s Purpose & Need,” Peacock said. The Team also believes the work can effectively “establish an Area of Potential Affect and determine what environmental studies are required” based on ACTC’s “exhaustive preliminary analysis to-date.”
The Team also urged avoiding delay to biological surveys for various species to be done between April and June, when they are required to occur, so surveys are not delayed a year. Approving all work also benefits by allowing the Commission to better see costs.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
