Olivehurst project moves forward: Yuba County supervisors approve agreement for storm drainage system

Michaela Harris, Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif.
·3 min read

Dec. 12—The Yuba County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an agreement with Dokken Engineering on Tuesday to carry out the Olivehurst Roadway Climate Resiliency Project, which will provide a modern storm drainage system along five miles of roadway.

The drainage project will span the lengths of Western Avenue and Fleming Way, plus most portions of Second, Third, Fifth, Eighth, Ninth and Eleventh avenues. It will also add sidewalks and bicycle routes to the unincorporated community, the county said. Residents will see resilient transportation infrastructure that will be designed and constructed with flood risk reduction in mind.

In July, Yuba County submitted an application for funding under the Local Transportation Climate Adaptation Program. On Dec. 6, the California Transportation Commission voted to award the full project cost of $48.4 million to the county, which will cover the costs of design, construction, and construction management for the entire project.

Community Development Services Director Mike Lee said that this will be the largest drainage and transportation project that Yuba County has undertaken.

"We're essentially going to be modernizing and upgrading the drainage system and the road infrastructure of essentially half the community of Olivehurst," Lee said.

Over 26,000 feet of new storm drains, 52,000 feet of sidewalks, and 52,000 feet of bike routes will be constructed along 13 roads in Olivehurst, areas that have long been plagued by street flooding, the county said.

According to officials, the Yuba Water Agency previously committed $9.9 million in local funds to meet the 20% match required of the grant, but the entire project amount was awarded without a need for a local match. However, Lee said that the county will still utilize these funds to jumpstart the project as it waits for state funding to come through.

With this grant funding, the project must adhere to an "aggressive" timeline of approximately a year and half from design to construction, Lee said. Because of this, the Community Development Services Agency went forward with a bid process, saving around one month off the project timeline.

According to Lee, the contract amount for design and construction support services is $2.64 million.

"This project is the poster child for what the state wanted, which is one of the reasons I believe the (California Transportation Commision) waived the local match. The state wanted a climate change project, and because of the already occurring issues with drainage and the localized flooding, that just illustrates a need for this project," said Dan Peterson, former Yuba County Public Works Director.

PATH grant funds

Also on Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors accepted grant funding from the Providing Access and Transforming Health (PATH) grant program centered on building health care capacity for the Yuba County Jail and Tri-County Detention Center.

In January, the state Department of Health Care Services received federal approval to allocate PATH capacity building funds to support the Justice-Involved Reentry Initiative. The Yuba County Jail has been allocated a total of $3.5 million for a three-year term, the county said.

A new state bill requires counties to implement a new set of health care components in its correctional facilities between April 1, 2024, and March 2026. This includes screening inmates who meet specific clinical criteria, providing "warm handoffs" to health care providers and offering care coordination.

According to officials, carrying out these new mandates will require coordination between multiple stakeholders in Yuba County. Because of this, officials plan to utilize funds from the California Strengthening Public Health Initiative to establish a project manager position for the Yuba County Jail and Tri-County Detention Center.

According to officials, this will allow Yuba County to implement a whole-person care approach not only to fulfill the state's statute, but to address the underlying drivers of health for the county's incarcerated population.