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Tehachapi council approves MOU with Kern County to build Tucker/Highline roundabout
Summary
The City of Tehachapi approved a memorandum of understanding with Kern County to use a CMAQ grant and local traffic impact fee funds to build a roundabout at Tucker Road and Highline Road; the project budget is estimated at about $3.8 million with the city’s share roughly $139,000 under a proposed 35/65 split.
The Tehachapi City Council voted unanimously to approve a memorandum of understanding with Kern County Public Works to design and construct a roundabout at the intersection of Tucker Road and Highline Road, Development Services staff said.
Development Services staff described the project as an intersection safety and congestion improvement funded largely through a Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) grant awarded through the Kern Council of Governments. The total estimated project cost is about $3,800,000; the parties are expected to contribute traffic-impact fee revenue and to collectively match roughly 11.5 percent (approximately $432,000) of the cost. Under the proposed cost split the county would pay about 65 percent and the city about 35 percent; staff estimated the city’s current share at approximately $139,000.
Staff and councilors said engineers recommended a roundabout over a traffic signal because of existing speed differentials on the intersecting roads and because CMAQ scoring favored the roundabout’s congestion and air-quality benefits. A member of the public, James Wilhelm, told councilors he preferred a signal with left-turn arrows but said enforcement at the intersection was limited; staff and councilors responded that a roundabout would reduce collision severity by slowing all approaching traffic.
Councilors asked about comparative costs and grant rules. Staff said a basic traffic signal would be less expensive to install in isolation but that adding left-turn lanes and widening pavement to accommodate arrows would quickly raise costs into the millions. Staff also said the CMAQ grant award and the grant evaluation metrics were tied to the roundabout option; switching to a signal would likely forfeit the current award and require a new application cycle.
After discussion, a motion to approve the MOU and authorize the mayor to sign carried unanimously on a roll-call vote recorded as four yes, zero no.
Councilors and staff said Kern County planned to take a parallel approval to the Kern County Board of Supervisors the week following the council meeting. Staff said the county and city expect the county to manage the bulk of construction due to its ownership of three of the four legs of the intersection.
