The Folsom City Council has approved a contract amendment with Dewberry Engineers, Inc. to complete the project authorization and environmental documentation for the long-awaited U.S. 50/Empire Ranch Road Interchange project.
According to the city staff report which was reviewed Tuesday night, the amendment will extend the contract timeline and provide additional funding to address unforeseen requirements from Caltrans. The original contract with Dewberry Engineers, formerly Drake Haglan & Associates, was approved in 2017 for $1.3 million, and the latest amendment increases the total contract amount to $1.78 million. The additional $473,131 will be primarily funded through a federal Highway Infrastructure Program grant, with the city responsible for an $54,268.13 local match.
The project, which aims to improve traffic flow and access along U.S. 50 at Empire Ranch Road, has been in development for nearly two decades. Initial work began in 2007 but was put on hold as the city shifted its focus to the Folsom Lake Crossing project. Progress resumed in 2017 when the city hired Dewberry Engineers to prepare project authorization and environmental documentation, a critical step in the transportation project approval process.
Since then, the contract has been amended four times to accommodate evolving Caltrans standards, extended environmental review processes, and additional design modifications. The latest amendment will allow the project team to finalize the draft project report, address new Caltrans design standards, and incorporate Highway Safety Manual elements into the design.
“Numerous rounds of comments from Caltrans, along with staff changes at the agency, have resulted in additional work for the project team,” the city staff report noted. The contract extension also accounts for new state-mandated format changes to several key documents, including the Design Standard Decision Documents, Traffic Management Plan, and Storm Water Data Report.
Full funding for the actual future project will be need to be secured once finalized, but the process has already gotten underway. In March of 2023, the Consolidated Appropriations Act that provides federal assistance for local safety, water transportation and infrastructure projects committed to $4,000,000 in funding towards the project that is within California’s Third Congressional District and was requested by Representative Kevin Kiley.
Recent project milestones include a formal “Delivery Hour” presentation to Caltrans management and the approval of the project’s Draft Environmental Impact Report. The city anticipates that once the revised Draft Project Report is approved, the environmental documentation will be finalized, bringing the project closer to the construction phase.
