Shafter council OKs $1.7M for roundabout

Funding for the first phase of the Seventh Standard Road and Highway 43 roundabout was approved by Shafter City Council Tuesday night.

The $1.7 million bid by the Parsons Transportation Group for design and engineering will kick off the project, which is intended to relieve congestion at the intersection.

Previously, the council had approved the acceptance of bids for the project, which also includes a proposal by the Wonderful Company to front the money for the project in exchange for future traffic impact fees that would be collected.

But the council approved the $1.7 million to be paid with a budget appropriation from the General Fund to go toward this capital improvement project.

Public Works Director Michael James said that they would come back at a later date to update the council on the status of the agreement between the city and the Wonderful Company.

The project involves the County of Kern, the City of Shafter and CalTrans. Each of the three agencies involved in the project would be responsible for $1.5 million. The county would be responsible for the right-of-way acquisitions, and CalTrans is committed to the environmental studies for the project. CalTrans would also lead the construction.

James said that the city has not worked with Parsons before, but the firm comes highly recommended by the county, which reported that the city of Bakersfield has worked with them several times, with outstanding results.

In other council action, the council voted unanimously to approve a services contract with Dee Jasper and Associates to complete the design phase of a new water well. James said that the city has been planning to add additional groundwater wells as needs increase.

Well 23 will be located at the corner of Beech Avenue and Tulare Avenue. The contract is for $99,340 and includes just the design phase of the project. Dee Jasper has done well designs for the city of Shafter in the past, with satisfactory results. The project's design is expected to take about a year to complete.