Community Corner

Napa 2-Way Street Conversion Stalls Over Awarding Of $1M Contract

Napa City Council wants more local contractors included.



Napa City Council rejected a proposed contract for converting First and Second streets downtown into two-way, saying it didn't do enough to include local contractors.

"Send us a win-win," said Mayor Jill Techel in returning the contract back to staff for reworking after a lengthy debate Tuesday night.

At issue was staff's choice of St. Francis Electric of San Leandro for Phase 1, which is 78 percent traffic signal work. City Council members wanted to include the other applicant, G.D. Nielson Construction Inc. of Napa, in the project.

City traffic engineering staff said the electrical subcontractor for G.D. Nielson didn't present enough past experience in traffic signal work, compared to St. Francis, which presented a wide range of past jobs with traffic signals.

Staff said they would look for a way to include the local firm in some of the other contract tasks, such as outreach.

The two-way conversion will have a total cost of $1.5 million, including the $1 million design-build contract paid for by the city and another $500,000 contributed by local businesses.

Future phases of the ambitious downtown streets renovation project include flipping the directions of First and Second streets between California Boulevard and Jefferson Street and building one or more roundabouts on California Boulevard.


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