FOLSOM — A long-planned interchange at Highway 50 and Empire Ranch Road is continuing through the development process Tuesday night as the Folsom City Council reconvened following its summer recess and approved an agreement with Caltrans needed to continue preliminary engineering, right-of-way, environmental clearance and design work.
The City Council approved Resolution No. 11689 as part of its Aug. 11 consent calendar, authorizing the city manager to execute a revised Program Supplement Agreement with Caltrans. The action does not approve construction of the interchange, but provides an administrative step required for the city to continue the project’s preconstruction phases and remain eligible for reimbursement through state and federal funding committed to the project.
The planned interchange would create a new four-lane connection with Highway 50 at Empire Ranch Road. The Caltrans agreement identifies the project location as “US-50 at Empire Ranch Road” and describes the proposed work as construction of a four-lane interchange.
While Tuesday’s approval does not authorize construction itself, it represents another step for a transportation project whose history stretches back nearly two decades.
According to the staff report, Folsom initially began work on the Empire Ranch Road interchange in 2007 and 2008, completing much of the preliminary design and environmental clearance using federal funds. Work was later halted when the city shifted its design and funding priorities to the Folsom Lake Crossing Project.
The interchange returned to the city’s active transportation planning years later. In 2016, Caltrans informed Folsom that $1,295,856 in federal funding left over from the earlier interchange work remained available for the city’s use. Folsom subsequently entered into a Program Supplement Agreement with Caltrans to access that funding.
In November 2017, the City Council authorized a consulting agreement with Drake, Haglan & Associates, now Dewberry Engineers Inc., to prepare project authorization and environmental documentation. The original agreement carried a not-to-exceed amount of $1,308,950.
Since then, the contract has undergone five amendments extending the contract period and providing additional project funding necessary to complete the various phases. Those amendments have brought the total not-to-exceed contract amount to $1,782,081. Work associated with the agreement remains underway, and the city has received $1,467,724.11 in reimbursements from Caltrans to date.
More than $10 million in grant funding identified
Over the years, Folsom has assembled several federal and regional funding sources to continue development of the interchange project.
A Highway Infrastructure Program grant provided $1,655,404 for project design, while another $844,596 was made available through the Regional Surface Transportation Program. In 2021, an additional $2.5 million in federal funding became available for project design through a grant awarded by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments. The City Council authorized a previous revision to the Caltrans Program Supplement Agreement in November 2021.
An additional $4 million has since been made available through Community Project Funded Congressional Directed Spending funds. Tuesday’s action authorizes the revised Caltrans agreement necessary for the city to receive that funding.
Combined, the grant funding identified for the project totals $10,295,856.
That includes $1,295,856 through the High Priority Projects Program, $1,655,404 through the Highway Infrastructure Program, $844,596 and $2.5 million through Regional Surface Transportation Program funding, and $4 million through Community Project Funded Congressional Directed Spending.
The amount of grant funding now available exceeds the amount currently programmed for the interchange in Folsom’s capital improvement plan.
The Empire Ranch Road Interchange Project is included in the city’s fiscal year 2026-27 Capital Improvement Plan with a total project budget of $9,282,081, utilizing the Transportation Improvement Fund and Highway 50 Interchange Capital Fund. With $10,295,856 in total grant funding identified, available grants exceed the current CIP project budget by just over $1 million.
According to the staff report, a separate CIP budget amendment or appropriation will be brought before the City Council if needed to align the programmed project budget with the total available grant allocations.
Tuesday’s action itself carries no direct financial impact to the city. Instead, the agreement establishes the mechanism necessary for Folsom to seek reimbursement from Caltrans for eligible project costs.
Agreement allows preconstruction work to continue
Under the Caltrans process, Folsom is required to execute the Program Supplement Agreement to proceed with preliminary engineering, right-of-way, environmental clearance and design phases of the Empire Ranch Road Interchange Project.
The city must invoice Caltrans to receive federal or state reimbursements, and approval of the Program Supplement Agreement is required before those reimbursements can be sought. City staff noted that the Caltrans agreement is a standard form previously approved by the city attorney for other Folsom transportation projects.
The resolution approved Tuesday states that Folsom intends to continue preliminary engineering, right-of-way and environmental documentation for the proposed freeway interchange at Highway 50 and Empire Ranch Road. It also authorizes the city manager to execute the revised agreement associated with the latest $4 million allocation.
The underlying Caltrans agreement further requires the city to receive an “Authorization to Proceed” before beginning work on specific federally or state-funded phases. Federal funds available for reimbursement are limited to amounts formally obligated by the Federal Highway Administration.
For that reason, Tuesday’s council action is one piece of a larger and continuing development process rather than approval to begin building the interchange.
The administrative action also does not constitute a “project” under the California Environmental Quality Act, according to the staff report. The city determined that authorization of the agreement falls under CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(5).
Nearly two decades after Folsom first began preliminary work on the Empire Ranch Road interchange, the project remains in its preconstruction stages. Tuesday’s approval keeps that process moving while allowing the city to continue accessing the state and federal reimbursements that have been assembled for engineering, environmental, right-of-way and design work.
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