The County is a partner with CCTA and Caltrans to develop the SR239 Project. SR239 is a legislatively adopted, but unconstructed route in the state highway system between State Route 4 (SR4) in Brentwood to Interstate 580 west of Tracy in San Joaquin County. SR239 is intended to improve access and regional connectivity between eastern Contra Costa County and San Joaquin County, support planned development and job realization, support inter-regional north-south goods movement operations, and improve access to the Byron Airport. A route was never formally adopted by the California Transportation Commission (CTC) or constructed.  
  
In 2005, the County received two federal appropriations totaling $14 million for the planning and construction of the SR239 Project. The County initiated planning work for the project which was transferred to CCTA due to CCTA's broader geographic area of responsibility, and direct relationships with involved state and regional agencies. This was formalized in an MOU with CCTA in January 2012. Under the terms of the MOU, CCTA assumed responsibility for the planning and future phases of the project with the County reimbursing CCTA for the local matching funds and project management costs up to a maximum amount of $1.45 million. The Project Feasibility Study was completed in May 2014 and a Project Initiation Document (PID), with Caltrans oversight, was completed in August 2015.  
  
In 2018, CCTA, Caltrans and the County agreed that the project was ready to proceed to the Project Approval and Environmental Document (PA&ED) phase and this work is currently underway. Caltrans is the CEQA and NEPA lead for this phase and the federal funds require that some portion of the project is constructed by 2024.  
  
During this phase, the alignment for SR239 will be identified to allow formal right of way protection and preservation of the ultimate corridor. It will also advance the first phase of the project to the “shelf ready” stage in order to compete for future funding opportunities. These are essential steps towards meeting the federal funding progress requirement. Engineering and environmental clearance is being performed for the first initial phase of SR239, the Vasco Road - Byron Highway- Connector. These activities will facilitate its construction should funding become available. The Byron Highway-Vasco Road Connector is already designated to receive $10 million under Regional Measure 3 approved by voters in 2018.  
  
In October 2019, the County and CCTA amended the existing MOU and it became the “Amended and Restated Memorandum of Understanding”. Under the terms of the Amended and Restated MOU, CCTA is responsible for managing activities necessary to complete the PA&ED phase of the project. The County is responsible for local match funds as well as CCTA’s project management costs. Because of the project complexity, the project management effort needed could not be properly scoped during the development of the Amended and Restated MOU. As a result, the Amended and Restated MOU included an interim budget and required CCTA and the County to review the project management cost annually and to revise the budget based on mutual agreement.  
  
Staff from CCTA and the County have recently reviewed the anticipated level of effort and cost for managing the remaining PA&ED work for the project. Based on current projections, it is anticipated that the total project management cost will increase by $560,473 to $1,201,199 through Fiscal Year 24/25.  
  
It is proposed to amend the Restated and Amended MOU to increase the maximum reimbursement amount by $560,473 from $3,635,000 to a new maximum reimbursement amount of $4,195,473, which includes the increase in project management costs.

If the recommended actions are not taken the SR239 Project will not have sufficient funding to complete the PA&ED phase or project management costs.