Amador County – Plymouth officials last week said the city is facing a major hurdle in its intersection improvement project for the corner of Main Street and Highway 49.

City Manager Jeff Gardner said Plymouth has been asked to provide 30% engineering plans for each of its intersection alternatives, so that the California Department of Transportation can make comments on the individual alternatives. Gardner said the city was having its $1 million project being held to the same standards as multi-million-dollar projects in the Valley. He said the project has its funding frozen pending the engineering.

Mayor Greg Baldwin said comparatively, Caltrans is doing an in-house intersection improvement at Ridge Road and New York Ranch Road, and it looked like it would probably cost $50,000 to complete, as compared to the $1 million estimate for Plymouth, the difference between a state highway project, versus a strictly county road project.

Gardner said Plymouth’s funding for the intersection has been frozen pending the engineering work, and the engineer already has done work on the project and is sitting on those bills. Plymouth has $1.3 million in funds available for the project, including $200,000 from the Regional Traffic Mitigation Fee program, operated by the Amador County Transportation Commission.

Caltrans ultimately will make the decision on the alternative for the intersection, with recommendations from the Plymouth City Council.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.