Since 1991 the City has considered a project to widen Wolfe Road adjacent to El Camino Real, so as to improve vehicular capacity of the intersection. Recently, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) approved $1.8 million of Federal Transportation Improvement Act funding for this project. This prompted staff to present a report and recommendation to the City Council on September 21, 1999. At that meeting, the City Council affirmed its support for this project.

For the City to receive the funding, the construction contract must be awarded by September 30, 2000. In order to meet this schedule, staff is recommending award of a $393,420 contract for environmental and design services to a team led by Mark Thomas & Co. This company has worked on the preliminary phase of the project and have a proven team, highly effective in their work with the State and Federal funding organizations that will process the project application. Given the short time for completion of the environmental and design work, staff believes a sole-source consultant selection is justified.

The Wolfe Road/El Camino Real intersection improvement project was first conceived in 1991. A preliminary study at that time identified three alternatives for the project. City Council selected a preferred alternative in 1992, and re-affirmed it in 1995. Key considerations of the project included the need for significant right-of-way acquisition, and bicycle capacity limitations.

This project has been a candidate for Federal funding since its inception. However, due to higher priority needs for the funding elsewhere in the region, the project funding was delayed until recently. The City's staff has been able to obtain funding for the project in the most recent MTC funding cycle.

Public Works staff faces a significant challenge to complete all of the design and environmental work required to award the construction contract by September 30, 2000, as required by the funding program. The only way to meet this time schedule was to use a consultant team familiar with the project and capable of satisfying the complicated State and Federal requirements. Normally this work would be expected to take more than a year to complete. Staff's goal is to complete the work in about 6 months.

Mark Thomas & Co. and David J. Powers Associates have successfully teamed on such federally funded projects and have proven expertise in the environmental processes, administration, and design facets of this type of project. Mark Thomas & Co. assisted the City in securing the MTC funding, so their team is already familiar with this project, and will not require additional time to familiarize themselves with the requirements. For these reasons, staff determined that it was in the best interest of the City to sole-source the needed professional services selection.

While the civil engineering aspects of the project are not particularly complex, a large number of right-of-way acquisitions are required. In turn, this causes need for full study of environmental impacts as part of the Initial Study (the anticipated California environmental document) and Categorical Exemption (the anticipated Federal environmental document). Successful administration with State and Federal officials will require significant attention of senior consulting team member of Mark Thomas & Co. Considering the complicated nature of this project and the need for accelerated design process, including obtaining CalTrans approvals, staff has determined that the proposed $363,420 fee is reasonable. The total contract amount of $393,420 includes $30,000 for optional services to be authorized by the Public Works Director.

Posting of the Council Agenda. This report is also available on the City’s Internet page and at the City Library.

That the City Council award the environmental and design services contract to Mark Thomas & Co. in the amount of $393,420, which includes $30,000 for optional services authorized by the Director of Public Works.

Prepared by:

Mark Dettle
Assistant Director PW/City Engineer

Reviewed by:

Marvin A. Rose
Director of Public Works

Reviewed by:

Mary Bradley
Director of Public Works

Approved by:

Robert S. LaSala
City Manager