The Public Works Department is preparing to construct the Kirker Pass Road Overly Project. The purpose of this project is to improve the pavement condition of Kirker Pass Road from approximately 1.5 miles west of the Pittsburg City Limits to the Pittsburg City Limits. Work will include placing a hot mix asphalt (HMA) overlay, pavement and base failure repair, crack sealing, grinding the existing pavement, placement of pavement reinforcing fabric, replacing existing striping and pavement markings, minor concrete median modification and crash cushion grade adjustments, and adjustment of existing inlet grates to grade.
As part of the project work, temporary traffic control and warning signs will need to be placed on adjacent roadways located within the City limits of Pittsburg. Normally, the County would leave it to the general contractor to apply for and obtain roadway encroachment permits covering the traffic control activities and signs in the adjacent jurisdictions. However, in this case, as part of the Federal funding, Caltrans and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) have required that the County initially obtain the roadway encroachment permit in its name and not delegate this solely to the general contractor.
For the roadway encroachment permit applications, the above agency requires the County to sign indemnification language that would generally require the County to defend and indemnify the agency for any accidents or damages resulting from the traffic control activities. Given the minor and temporary nature of the traffic control activities, the indemnification requirements would involve relatively low risk to the County and, in any event, would be covered by the general contractor’s liability insurance. In addition, County staff plans to work with the above agency to replace the roadway encroachment permit initially obtained by the County with those subsequently obtained by the County’s general contractor for this project.
To meet the expected tight deadlines to construct this project, it is necessary for the County to promptly obtain the roadway encroachment permit prior to approval of the Federal funds. The roadway encroachment permit is an essential part of the County’s project submittal package to Caltrans. Under the circumstances, the Public Works Director recommends that the Board authorize staff to execute roadway encroachment permit issued by the above agency and arrange for any necessary payment of permit, inspection, and related fees in accordance with the permits.
Without this permit, Federal funding will be in jeopardy.