El Cajon adopts SB 1 project list; $5.7 million summer overlay slated to begin next week

The El Cajon City Council unanimously approved June 10 the city’s proposed Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account (RMRA) project list for fiscal year 2025–26 and directed staff to submit it to the California Transportation Commission.

Engineering staff told the council the local streets-and-roads program established by Senate Bill 1 (the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017) will likely provide the city about $2.8 million in RMRA funding for FY 2025–26, slightly higher than the prior year’s projection. The list adopted by council is intentionally general because the California Transportation Commission allows cities to refine project locations later during the expenditure-report cycle.

Staff also described the city’s broader paving program and maintenance-zone approach, a cyclical plan that focuses on two maintenance zones each fiscal year so that most streets are resurfaced roughly twice every five years. Staff outlined three common paving treatments — mill-and-overlay, asphalt spot repairs, and slurry seal — and emphasized that spot repairs prepare streets for slurry sealing.

Engineering staff said one of the city’s largest overlay projects in a decade begins construction next week. The summer overlay locations include high-traffic arterials such as Chase, Fletcher Parkway, Broadway and Main Street. The low bid for that project was described in staff slides as just over $5,700,000; Eagle Paving is the prime contractor for the overlay.

Council members asked whether street reconfigurations such as lane reductions for traffic calming should be brought forward now; staff said those changes require separate traffic analyses and would be treated as separate projects outside the RMRA listing. Staff also clarified that SB 1 funds do not mandate bicycle-lane striping, though projects will consider the city’s bike master plan.

The motion to adopt the RMRA list carried by unanimous vote of those present.