Agenda Item Wording:
title
Award Design Contract - Authorize the City Manager to award a professional design services contract to 4Creeks, Inc. in the amount of $667,446 to advance the 30% design to final plans, specifications and estimates for the widening of Shirk Street between Walnut Avenue and Noble Avenue and authorize the City Manager to execute a Measure R supplemental agreement with the Tulare County Transportation Authority in the amount of $726,600.
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Agenda Date: 07/20/2026
Prepared by:
Estrella Velasquez, Associate Engineer, Estrella.Velasquez@visalia.gov, (559)713-4164
Chris Crawford, City Engineer, Chris.Crawford@visalia.gov, (559)713-4331
Jason Huckleberry, Engineering & Building Director, Jason.Huckleberry@visalia.gov, (559)713-4495
Department Recommendation:
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to award and enter a professional design services contract with 4Creeks, Inc. in the amount of $667,446 to prepare final plans, specifications and estimates for the widening of Shirk Street between Walnut Avenue and Noble Avenue and authorize the City Manager to execute a Measure R supplemental agreement with the Tulare County Transportation Authority in the amount of $726,600.
Summary:
The city has solicited a proposal from 4Creeks, Inc. to prepare final plans, specifications and estimates (PS&E) for the widening of Shirk Street from a two-lane roadway to a four-lane roadway between Walnut Avenue and Noble Avenue. This proposal was requested from 4Creeks, Inc. because they previously completed the 30% design for the corridor, providing continuity and reducing potential rework, and are now a prequalified consultant under the city’s competitively procured on-call civil engineering services contract. The project consists of the installation of medians, curb and gutter, a shared use path along the east side of the roadway, street lighting, storm drain infrastructure and ADA curb ramps. Additionally, this project will install the underground infrastructure for a future signal at the Shirk Street and Tulare Avenue intersection, when warranted. The project will entail extensive coordination efforts with Southern California Edison (SCE) for the relocation of 18 transmission poles, Persian Ditch Company for the undergrounding of the existing culvert crossing, and property owners for the right of way acquisition efforts. The previously approved 30% design efforts will be continued to achieve final PS&E under this professional design services contract. This design project is being awarded through the city’s current on-call civil engineering contract which was a competitive request for qualifications process.
Background Discussion:
Shirk Street is designated as an arterial roadway in the City of Visalia’s General Plan Circulation Element and serves as a primary transportation corridor for the surrounding industrial and residential areas, accommodating both passenger vehicles and commercial truck traffic. Continued growth and development along this corridor and surrounding areas have increased traffic volumes and reinforced the need to expand roadway capacity. To address these demands and implement the city’s long term transportation vision, city staff is aiming to advance design efforts to widen Shirk Street from Walnut Avenue to Noble Avenue to meet its planned arterial roadway standards. The proposed project is one of several planned or current capital improvement projects along the Shirk Street corridor between Walnut Avenue and Riggin Avenue and is essential to maintain connectivity and mobility as residential, commercial, and industrial development continues in the area.
In February 2025, the City Council approved a professional services agreement with 4Creeks to prepare a 30% design for the Shirk Street widening project. The primary objective of this initial phase was to establish the preferred roadway alignment while evaluating significant physical, utility, and right of way constraints affecting the project corridor. Key considerations included an approved tentative subdivision map within project limits, the relocation of existing transmission poles along the east side of the roadway, modifications to the existing Persian Ditch culvert crossing, and extensive right of way acquisition requirements tied to existing residential parcels and ag land that use Shirk as their primary access point. Approximately one mile of the project’s 1.5 mile corridor frontage requires additional right-of-way to accommodate the planned roadway improvements.
In addition to establishing the roadway alignment, the preliminary design effort sought to identify and coordinate the future locations of major wet utilities within the corridor to ensure consistency with the city’s long-term infrastructure plans. The approved residential subdivision located within the project limits was conditioned to construct a sanitary sewer gravity trunk main along its frontage to serve the second and final phase of development. Due to capacity and operational limitations, the development could not connect to the existing force main currently located within the corridor. To facilitate the development and ensure compatibility with the ultimate roadway configuration, the design of the sanitary sewer trunk main within the widening project limits was completed as part of the preliminary engineering effort.
Because installation of a 48-inch gravity sewer main at depths exceeding 20 feet creates substantial construction and traffic impacts, the city and developer expanded the limits of its sewer improvements. The developer is currently constructing the sanitary sewer trunkline from Walnut Avenue to Noble Avenue and will decommission the existing lift station and force main within the corridor. Completion of these improvements will satisfy the long-term wastewater conveyance needs for the Shirk Street corridor and will eliminate the need for further wastewater trunk line design or construction as the during the roadway widening project commences. Therefore, no additional wastewater trunk line improvements or associated funding are anticipated as part of this roadway widening project.
Advancing the preliminary design was critical to provide certainty for ongoing and future development activities within the project limits and surrounding areas. The completed 30% design evaluated multiple alignment alternatives and identified a preferred alignment that balances project objectives with the corridor’s existing constraints, utility requirements, and anticipated future development. As a result of the completed wastewater improvements, the final PS&E phase for the roadway widening project will focus on roadway improvements, storm drain infrastructure, coordination with California Water Service for future water main facilities, and the design and coordination of dry utility infrastructure within the corridor. The project will address overall connectivity through the corridor by coordinating multimodal transportation across several of the city’s ongoing and completed capital improvement projects. The design will set up for a future Class I trail along the west side of the roadway, install the underground infrastructure for a future traffic signal at the Shirk Street and Tulare Avenue intersection and provide pedestrian connectivity to the planned improvements over the existing bridge at the SR-198 crossing.
The original 30% design contract was awarded to 4Creeks through a sole source procurement process based on the firm’s involvement with the approved subdivision map located within the project corridor. This approach minimized duplication of effort and reduced the potential for design conflicts. Subsequent to that contract award, the city established a civil engineering on-call consultant program consisting of six qualified firms, including 4Creeks, Inc., Peters Engineering Group, Provost & Pritchard Consulting Group, TRC Engineering, Inc., Lane Engineering, Inc., and CWE. Although the original 30% design contract was awarded through a sole source procurement process, 4Creeks is now one of the city's pre-qualified on-call engineering consultants eligible to receive task orders. Because 4Creeks completed the preliminary design, established the preferred roadway alignment, and coordinated the project with the adjacent private development, selecting the firm from the on-call consultant pool to complete the final design maintains continuity, minimizes the potential for rework or design conflicts, and provides the most efficient delivery of the project. Due to its extensive familiarity with the project and completion of the preliminary design phase, 4Creeks was selected from the on-call consultant pool to continue advancing the project through final design.
Under the proposed agreement, 4Creeks will advance the project from its current 30% design level to final PS&E for the roadway widening improvements. The scope of work includes the design of the roadway expansion, undergrounding of approximately 500 linear feet of the Persian Ditch, dry and wet utility design and relocation coordination, right of way acquisition efforts, Caltrans coordination, as well as streetlight and landscape design. Based on the consultant’s proposed schedule, final construction documents are anticipated to be completed at the end of 2027. This schedule anticipates that eminent domain will not be required during the right of way acquisition process. Following completion of design, city staff intends to advertise the project for construction, with timelines subject to the relocation of the existing transmission poles, acquisition of the required right-of-way, and coordination with the Persian Ditch dry season.
Fiscal Impact:
This project budget is funded through multiple sources: Measure R Local (131), Measure R Regional (133), Storm Sewer Construction (221), Wastewater Trunkline (231), and Transportation Impact Fund (241). At this time, the fiscal impact associated with this action is limited to the design and right of way acquisition phases of the project. As outlined in Table 1: Current Project Funding, the current budget allocation is sufficient to fully cover the anticipated design costs, resulting in a surplus of $666,231. This surplus indicates that supplemental funds are not required to award the design contract in its entirety.
See below the project funding breakdown.
|
Table 1: Current Project Funding (3010-72000/CP0656-999) |
|
Project Funding Source |
|
|
Measure R Local (131) |
$2,162,300 |
|
Measure R Regional (133) |
$726,600 |
|
Storm Sewer Construction (221) |
$249,000 |
|
Wastewater Trunkline (231) |
$44,000 |
|
Transportation Impact (241) |
$3,353,900 |
|
Total Project Funding |
$6,535,800 |
|
|
|
|
Previous Design Costs |
|
|
Staff Time |
$44,600 |
|
Design Services |
$324,573 |
|
Topographic Survey |
$16,200 |
|
Total Previous Design Costs |
$385,373 |
|
|
|
|
Additional Estimated Project Design Costs |
|
|
Staff Time |
$250,000 |
|
Design Services |
$568,229 |
|
Design Services (Optional) |
$99,217 |
|
Design Contingency (~10% of Design) |
$66,750 |
|
Right of Way Acquisition |
$4,500,000 |
|
Total Additional Estimated Project Costs |
$5,484,196 |
|
Total Estimated Design Costs |
$5,869,569 |
|
|
|
|
Surplus (Deficit) |
$666,231 |
The surplus identified in the table above will be applied toward the construction of the proposed improvements. The project funding shown in Table 1 accounts for the budget requests made by staff and approved in the recently adopted budget for Fiscal Years (FY) 2026-27 and 2027-28. The funds approved in the most recent budget are from the Measure R Local (131) and Transportation Impact Fee (241) funds and are intended to support the design and right of way acquisition phases of the project. Construction costs, currently estimated at approximately $14.1 million, have been programmed in the FY 2028-29 planning year.
At this time, staff is anticipating approximately $5.0 million in Measure R Regional funds and $1.0 million in Measure R Trail funds. The remaining construction funding gap is expected to be requested from the Measure R Local, Storm Sewer Construction, and Transportation Impact funds. Currently, staff recommends a Measure R supplemental agreement with the Tulare County Transportation Authority (TCTA) for the use of Measure R Regional funds in the amount of $726,600 towards the design phase.
City staff remains open to federalizing the project and will continue to pursue federal funding opportunities by submitting the proposed improvements for consideration as congressional earmarks to help support the construction phase.
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Table 2: Future Project Funding Schedule (3010-72000/CP0656-999) |
|
Funding Source |
Prior Years |
FY 26/27 |
FY 28/29 |
Total |
|
131 - MR Local |
$135,800 |
$2,026,500 |
$2,800,000 |
$4,962,300 |
|
132 - MR Trails |
- |
- |
$1,000,000 |
$1,000,000 |
|
133 - MR Regional |
$726,600 |
- |
$5,000,000 |
$5,726,600 |
|
221 - SD Const |
$249,000 |
- |
$2,500,000 |
$2,749,000 |
|
231 - WW Trunk |
$44,000 |
- |
- |
$44,000 |
|
241 - TIF |
$1,327,400 |
$2,026,500 |
$2,800,000 |
$6,156,900 |
|
TOTAL |
$2,482,800 |
$4,053,000 |
$14,100,000 |
$20,635,800 |
Prior Council Action:
February 2025 - City Council authorized the City Manager to award a sole source professional design services contract to 4Creeks, Inc., for the 30% engineering design of the Shirk Street Widening Project from Walnut Avenue to Noble Avenue for an amount of $289,048.
Alternatives: None recommended
Recommended Motion (and Alternative Motions if expected):
recommendation
I move to authorize the City Manager to award a professional design services contract to 4Creeks, Inc. in the amount of $667,446 to advance the 30% design to final plans, specifications and estimates for the widening of Shirk Street between Walnut Avenue and Noble Avenue and authorize the City Manager to execute a Measure R supplemental agreement with the Tulare County Transportation Authority in the amount of $726,600.
Environmental Assessment Status: NEPA environmental assessment does not apply at this time.
CEQA Review: A CEQA Notice of Exemption (NOE) will be prepared by the City of Visalia.
Deadline for Action: 07/20/2026
Attachments:
1. Project Location Map
2. Consultant Scope of Work
3. Consultant Project Fees
4. Consultant Fee Schedule
5. Consultant Disclosure Form
6. Sample Contract
Strategic Goal: Indicates which City Strategic Goal(s) this item supports. Check all that apply.
|
☐ Economic Vitality |
☐  Organizational Excellence |
☐ Fiscal Strength |
☒  Infrastructure & Growth |
☐  Quality of Life |