To: Board of Supervisors
From: Warren Lai, Public Works Director/Chief Engineer
Report Title: Approve Fiscal Year 2025/2026 Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account Project List for Unincorporated Contra Costa County, Countywide.
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
ADOPT Resolution approving a list of projects for Fiscal Year 2025/2026 funded by the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account funds, and DIRECT staff to submit the list of projects to the California Transportation Commission. (All Districts)
FISCAL IMPACT:
100% allocation to Local Road Funds from the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account (RMRA) program in the approximate amount of $21.7 million.
BACKGROUND:
A landmark transportation funding package titled the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 (Senate Bill 1), was signed into law by Governor Brown on April 28, 2017, to generate new revenue to fund California’s significant funding shortfall to maintain the state’s multimodal transportation network.
Senate Bill 1 (SB1) increased several taxes and fees to raise over $5.4 billion annually in new transportation revenues. SB1 prioritizes funding towards maintenance, rehabilitation and safety improvements on state highways, local roads and bridges and to improve the state’s trade corridors, transit and active transportation facilities.
SB1 funds were made available to cities and counties starting in Fiscal Year (FY) 2017/2018 and comprises two components-an increase in the original gas tax revenue (Highway Users Tax Account, or HUTA) that local agencies have been receiving prior to 2017 and RMRA program funds.
SB1 includes performance and reporting requirements of local public agencies to be eligible to receive their apportionment of RMRA funds. The information and recommendations in this report, once approved by the Board of Supervisors, will fulfill these requirements.
The California State Association of Counties (CSAC) annually provides an estimate of the total gas tax revenues the County can expect to see from the transportation bill, broken down by HUTA and RMRA funding. CSAC estimates the County will receive about $47.4 million in total transportation funding for FY 2025/2026, with about $21.7 million of that amount from the RMRA program.
SB1 legislation emphasizes the importance of accountability and transparency in the delivery of California’s transportation programs. Prior to receiving its apportionment of RMRA funds from the State Controller, the County must submit to the California Transportation Commission (CTC) a list of projects (including maintenance activities) proposed to be funded with RMRA funds. All projects proposed to receive RMRA funding must be reviewed and approved by the County Board of Supervisors at a regular public meeting.
The list of projects must include a description and location of each proposed project, a proposed schedule for the project’s completion, and the estimated useful life of the improvement. The project list does not limit the flexibility of an eligible city or county to fund other projects in accordance with local needs and priorities so long as the projects are consistent with RMRA priorities as outlined in Streets and Highways Code Section 2030. Example projects and uses for RMRA funding include, but are not limited to the following:
• Road maintenance and rehabilitation
• Safety projects
• Railroad grade separations
• Complete streets components (including active transportation purposes, pedestrian and bicycle safety projects, transit facilities, drainage and stormwater capture projects in conjunction with any other allowable project)
• Traffic control devices
Streets and Highways Code Paragraph 2030(b)(2) states that funds made available by the program may also be used to satisfy a match requirement to obtain state or federal funds for types of projects as stated above.
The County currently expends the majority of gas tax funds towards public roadway maintenance and rehabilitation of the 657-mile roadway network in unincorporated Contra Costa County. These funds are also used as the local funding match to leverage funds from state and federal grant programs for capital projects that ensure safe and convenient public travel in a variety of modes (i.e. driving, walking and bicycling).
In FY 2025/2026, all RMRA funds are programmed for countywide road maintenance and rehabilitation activities. The surface treatment projects funded by RMRA funding in FY 2025/2026 will be within the Brentwood area and unincorporated communities of San Miguel, Shell Ridge, East Richmond Heights, Kensington, and Byron. These communities were selected in alignment with the Public Works Department’s pavement management goal, which is to schedule areas for paving with a focus on entire communities to minimize future construction impacts and transportation costs by the contractor. This methodology increases the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the surface treatment program. Future surface treatments will be in other geographic areas throughout the county.
Further information regarding all projects funded in the Road Program by all funding sources can be found in the County’s latest Capital Road Improvement and Preservation Program report found here: https://www.contracosta.ca.gov/383/Capital-Road-Improvement-Preservation-Pr.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If a project list is not approved by the Board of Supervisors and submitted to the CTC by the July 1, 2025, deadline, the County will not be eligible to receive its apportionment of RMRA funds and the project listed in the Resolution will not be constructed.