Agenda Item Wording:
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Receive a staff presentation on the construction staging plans for the upcoming Downtown Streetlight Project and Downtown Pavement Rehabilitation Projects (CIP 1410-72000/CP0345-999; CIP 2390-72000/CP0373-999) and provide feedback and direction regarding night work impacts.
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Deadline for Action: None
Submitting Department: Public Works
Contact Name and Phone Number:
Eric Bons, Senior Civil Engineer, eric.bons@visalia.city, 713-4350
Frank Senteno, City Engineer, frank.senteno@visalia.city, 713-4331
Nick Mascia, Assistant City Manager, nick.mascia@visalia.city, 713-4323
Department Recommendation:
Staff recommends that City Council accept staff’s presentation and provide comment on the construction staging plans for the Downtown Streetlight and Pavement Rehabilitation Project. This presentation will consider the phased sequence of work in the downtown area, proposed night work and restrictions, and overall construction schedule.
Background Discussion:
The Downtown Streetlight Project consists of replacing a 70+ years old lighting system in Downtown Visalia with a modern lighting system that meets current industry standards. The project consists of the installation of the decorative streetlights on Main Street between Willis Street and Ben Maddox and installation of the non-decorative lights on Center Avenue from Willis Street to Santa Fe Street and in Acequia Avenue from Floral Street to Santa Fe Street. The project will also include new ADA accessible parking stalls and pedestrian curb ramps followed with the pavement rehabilitation of Main Street from Willis to Garden Street. The engineering division is currently working on the 100% plan submittal. The estimated starting construction date of the Downtown Streetlight Project is -February 2022 with anticipation that Cal Water’s phase 2 construction work on Encina Street starting January 2022. The remaining Cal Water work will be coordinated around the Downtown Streetlight construction contractor to avoid conflicts and delays.
The project will involve a phased approach with the main components of the project consisting of the streetlight replacement, concrete work (ramps, sidewalks, and stalls), and pavement work. The project will have severe impacts to the downtown if performed during daytime business hours; therefore, it is assumed that the work will be done during nighttime hours similar to Cal Water’s watermain replacement earlier this year.
This presentation shows the various phases of the work and is color-coded in the recommended order of priority. The phasing plan focuses on expediting the completion of work along Main Street first, followed by the peripheral areas that include Center Street, Acequia Avenue, and lastly the work in the Caltrans Right of Way (Court and Locust).
The project construction can be segmented into three (3) phases:
Phase 1: Streetlighting
The contractor will provide a temporary overhead power to the existing streetlight poles for lighting during the construction of the new system. Once power has been established, SCE’s existing 4 KV will be disconnected for safety purposes. The work will then proceed with the installation of the main utility conduits, service sweeps, pull boxes, streetlight pole foundation, placement of new streetlights, installation of wiring, switch over from the temporary electric system to new system, removal of the existing poles and cap the existing streetlight foundations.
Phase 2: Concrete
Phase two work will follow closely behind the completed streetlight elements work. Phase two work will consist of the construction of new ADA accessible curb ramps, localized sidewalk reconstruction, installation of 6 new ADA accessible parking stalls and refurbishment of 3 ADA parking stalls.
Phase 3: Pavement Rehabilitation
This last phase will rehabilitate the existing asphalt pavement in Main Street from Willis Street to Garden Street and restore all traffic and parking stall striping. Phase three will start once all Phase 1 and Phase 2 work is completed on Main Street. Pavement rehabilitation will consist of a two step process; grinding and removal of the upper three-inches of the existing pavement drive surface and then paved back with the placement of three-inches of new asphalt.
The pavement sequence will be as follows:
1. The entire street width of Main Street will grinded first and parking stalls re-established using temporary markings.
2. Main Street will then be paved half-street width per evening (northerly half or southerly half -including that half’s parking stalls). Parking stalls in the newly paved half of the street will be restricted to no parkingto allow the asphalt to cool 24-hours following placement. However, parking will be available on the other half of street not yet paved.
3. The following evening the other half of the street will be paved including that side’s parking and 24-hour restriction. Parking will now be available on the opposite side that was paved the evening prior.
The above paving sequence will be repeated along Main Street half-street per evening (see attached presentation).
For the upcoming Downtown Streetlight and Pavement Rehabilitation Projects, staff is recommending the work be done at night with the following work restrictions:
• Nighttime work will be limited to the hours of 9:00PM to 6:00AM, Sunday night thru Thursday night. No work will permitted outside these date and time restrictions without prior authorization from the City. The work will not be permitted to be performed and/or be coordinated around special event days. Any lane closures shall be removed by the end of each workday with access to the travel lane and pedestrian access restored during non-working hours.
• Nighttime work for the installation of Cal Water’s watermain project in Main Street demonstrated to successfully minimize impacts to downtown commerce; no complaints of construction noise were noted. Note, the Cal Water watermain replacement project on Main Street was limited to one block closure per evening with traffic being detoured using Acequia Avenue or Center Street. The streetlight’s phasing plan recommends added flexibility to increase the closure limits per the following bullet points:
• The night work on Main Street shall not close more than one half of Main Street for a maximum of four contiguous blocks with one lane of traffic maintained for vehicle traffic during construction or a full closure of two contiguous blocks with the appropriated traffic detour to be provided.
• The night work on Acequia Avenue between West Street and Locust Street shall maintain one lane of travel open all the time for access to the hospital. The remaining portion of Acequia Avenue within the project limits shall not be close more than one half of the street for a maximum of four contiguous blocks or a closure of a maximum of two contiguous blocks for the construction work.
• The night work on Center Avenue shall maintain one lane of travel at all time.
• The night work on Acequia Avenue shall maintain one lane of travel at all time and the access to the hospital shall remain open during the various construction phases.
Cal Water Phase II Work:
Staff was apprised of remaining segments of pipeline work to be completed. Cal Water is completing their plans and it is Staff’s expectation that the Cal Water work will be permitted to begin as soon as possible following the start of the new year. The Cal Water project will be replacing aging and undersize pipe within the following roadway segments:
• Encina Street: Main Street to Oak Avenue
• Willis Street: Mineral King Avenue to Center Avenue
• Floral Street: Acequia Avenue to Center Avenue
• Church Street: Acequia Avenue to Oak Avenue
The remaining Cal Water work will be coordinated to ensure that it does not delay the schedule to the Streetlight Project on Main Street and that it also follows a nighttime schedule as before.
Schedule:
The above construction phasing plan, if acceptable to the City Council, will be included in the bid documents to establish a baseline construction constraint for all bidders and to hopefully achieve a balance between cost efficiencies and keeping public impacts to a minimum. The estimated construction time is eight to ten months for the overall project. However, after the contract is awarded, staff will coordinate with the contractor to combine, separate, or reconfigure the phases to achieve greater scheduling efficiencies.
The project’s scheduling goal is to follow the phasing plan in order to complete the work on Main Street by the 2022 Holiday Season.
Public Notification:
Prior notification is essential to citizens being able to plan for construction detours and related construction noise. The City staff will notify the downtown businesses and residents adjacent to the affected area prior to that work. The City will also coordinate construction activities with public safety including the hospital and ambulance services prior to starting and throughout the project duration. Notification will be done with press releases, website posting, social media outreach, direct mailings, direct phone calls, or flyers. The project will have a 24-hour contact phone number during construction. Option to receive project updates through mobile text alerts will also be made available as has been done on other City projects, i.e. Santa Fe Roundabout, Akers-198 Interchange, and Demaree and Goshen.
Fiscal Impact:
There is no direct fiscal impact at this time, however adding flexibility to the project phasing may result in lower bid prices as a result of increased productivity rates directly proportional to a decrease in the number of working days required to complete the project. A full project budget including anticipated expenditures will be included when the Award of Contract is presented to the City Council.
Prior Council Action:
June 7, 2021 - City staff presented the recommendation for the appropriation of $2.4M for the Downtown Streetlight Project to the second public hearing. The committee reviewed and approved the recommendations.
May 17, 2021 - City staff presented the recommendation for the appropriation of $2.4M for the Downtown Streetlight Project to the first public hearing. The committee reviewed and approved the recommendations.
April 22, 2021 - City Staff presented the recommendation for the appropriation of $2.4M for the Downtown Streetlight project to the Measure N Oversight Committee. The Committee reviewed and approved the recommendation.
March 15, 2021 - City Staff presented decorative streetlight options for the downtown streetlight project. City Council approved the recommendation for the layout option 3 and streetlight scenario 3 and Measure N amendment process to approve the appropriation of $2.4M for the Streetlight project.
December 07, 2020 - City Staff presented standards for installing BFP on public right of way.
City Council approved the recommendation for the standards.
July 21, 2020 - City Staff presented revised layout options for the Downtown Streetlight Project. City Council approved the recommendation for a core decorative streetlight style.
June 01, 2020 - City Staff presented layout options for the Downtown Streetlight Project. City Council requested additional information from City Staff.
October 21, 2019 - Council authorized award of the design contract for the Downtown Streetlight Project to Quad Knopf for an amount not to exceed $407,098.00.
October 15, 2018 - City Staff presented an update of the downtown streetlights project to City Council during a work session item.
April 16, 2018 - Council approved Resolution No. 2018-25 to designate various road projects for 2018/19 funding from the State of California Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 (Senate Bill SB1).
Other:
NA
Alternatives:
Provide City Council with an update to the construction schedule and phasing plan after receiving the actual schedule from the awarded bidder for the construction work.
Recommended Motion (and Alternative Motions if expected):
recommendation
I move to accept the staging plan presentation and to approve nighttime work as proposed in this staff report with proper public noticing.
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Environmental Assessment Status:
No NEPA Environmental Assessment required for this project.
CEQA Review:
CEQA Review: Notice of Exemption: Environmental Document No. 2020-02
Attachments: Power Point - Phasing Plan