Yuba City holds groundbreaking ceremony for Bridge Street project

Robert Summa, Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif.
·5 min read

May 14—Yuba City officials gathered Friday morning for an official groundbreaking ceremony for the long-anticipated Bridge Street widening project.

Surrounded by other members of the city council, Yuba City Mayor Dave Shaw alluded to the start of the project as something that is part of the momentum Shaw and other council members want to continue in the progression and growth of the city.

"Why are we here?" Shaw asked. "This is because of all the great things that are happening within the city of Yuba City."

During his opening remarks at the ceremony, Shaw said he wanted to thank the citizens of the city who helped make the project a reality.

"The first people that I'd like to thank for why we're here today ... is our citizens, our citizens of the city," Shaw said. "Especially those that are right here adjacent to this project. Because they have worked diligently with the city in making this project come forward. ... Thank you to everyone that calls Yuba City home for being a part of this."

Shaw also wanted to thank those that work for the city who dedicated the countless hours of making sure a complicated project such as this got off the ground.

"I'd like to acknowledge our city team," Shaw said. "Because it's not the six of us up here that makes this happen. It's all the long hours and hard work that goes into the grant process, goes into the planning process, that goes into even making this happen today."

In March, the Yuba City City Council unanimously approved contracts for this current phase of the Bridge Street widening project.

"This is the next major segment of a multi-phased project to complete the entire Bridge Street corridor from 99 all the way to Highway 70," Shaw said on Friday.

With a total cost that is estimated to be about $10.2 million, the project will widen the final section of Bridge Street from Gray Avenue to Cooper Avenue and create a continuous four-lane road from Highway 99 east to the Fifth Street Bridge. Construction is slated to be completed early next year.

Shaw said the widening project was the result of the city and residents coming together for the betterment of Yuba City.

"This project goes a long way back. As you remember, right where we're standing used to be homes," Shaw said. "A lot of cities will go in and they'll do projects and they'll use things such as eminent domain and such, I'm very pleased to report that all the homeowners were willing sellers. It took us several years, but we worked together with them so that it was fair for them, fair for the city and they saw what the city needed. Because this project is going to be an incredible project that's going to link us all the way out from 99 to Highway 70."

The work in Yuba City coincides with Marysville's construction on the other side of the bridge along Fifth Street through its 5th Street Rehabilitation Project, the Appeal previously reported.

Along with the widening of Bridge Street from Gray Avenue to Cooper Avenue, improvements that will be made include a bicycle pathway, raised landscape median, new synchronized traffic signals and dedicated ADA-accessible sidewalks and crosswalks for pedestrians.

The city previously said there will be "ample room" for on-street parking on both sides of Bridge Street to maintain a "neighborhood feel." In addition, in an effort to mitigate the amount of noise from traffic on the north side of Bridge Street, the project will include a block wall to replace the existing wood fences, the city previously said.

The $10.2 million project includes a construction contract for $8,054,003 that was awarded to Knife River Construction of Chico. It also includes $1.2 million for construction contingencies, more than $814,000 to Knight CM Group of Gold River for construction management and about $168,000 for labor compliance services, design services and city administration costs, the Appeal previously reported.

The city said four construction bids were received that ranged from the accepted $8,054,003 to $8,900,045. Knife River Construction completed an earlier phase of the widening project that took place between Cooper Avenue and Plumas Street.

Shaw said on Friday that through the support and help of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, the project is partly funded by an award from the California Transportation Commission for $2.8 million. Further funding includes $2.63 million from the city's Development Impact Fee account, $1.73 million from state Transportation Development Act funds, $2.28 million from gas tax funds accrued in the city's Road Maintenance and Rehab account, and $775,000 from the city's sewer and water infrastructure fund accounts.

In his remarks during the groundbreaking ceremony, Shaw also acknowledged Gayle Barkhouse, wife of former Yuba City Mayor Bob Barkhouse.

"Your husband Bob was instrumental in a lot of things," Shaw said. "He was a true leader for this city and with the bridge that started many, many, many years ago on a napkin to what we're able to do now. Because without that initial conversation on a napkin to getting the bridge, to straightening out these streets, we would never really have this true corridor."