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The city of Dublin recently brought on consulting firm Gray-Bowen-Scott for the Dublin Boulevard extension, capping the contract at $250,000 for their project management services.
The intended infrastructure is an elongation of the Dublin Boulevard about 1.5 miles east through currently unincorporated Alameda County to North Canyons Parkway in Livermore.
The roadway’s final design is anticipated fall 2026, but the start date of construction has not been determined yet.
Construction will begin once about $50 million more in funding is secured, the right-of-way has been acquired and all resource agency permits are issued, according to the staff report by Dublin transportation and operations manager Pratyush Bhatia and deputy city manager Hazel Wetherford. Its construction is expected to last 18 months.
To help meet the project schedule as well as environmental mitigation coordination, the Dublin City Council unanimously agreed at a regular meeting Jan. 14 to contract with Gray-Bowen-Scott. As needed, the firm will also take on transportation planning and coordination, preparation of grant applications, development of a full funding plan and assisting with potential annexation including Alameda Local Agency Formation Commission coordination and district formation if the city decides to annex the property east of Dublin.
The agreement became effective immediately and will last through June 2028, as funded by the Dublin Boulevard extension advance reserve in the general fund.
“I am very much in favor of bringing in a consultant — it makes a lot of sense, I know how hard the city works and they’ve got a lot of responsibilities and resource constraints, so I’m not against that,” Councilmember Michael McCorriston said at the meeting.
Gray-Bowen-Scott has offered project management services for the Union City Quarry Lakes Parkway project, Highway 92/Clawiter-Whitesell Street interchange project and the San Mateo 101 express lanes.
The company was chosen in part because of Gary Huisingh’s transition from deputy executive director of the Alameda County Transportation Commission – where he worked with the city on the project — to Gray-Bowen-Scott, City Manager Colleen Tribby said.
Also, there is greater need for assistance on the project given the reassignment of Wetherford to other duties related to finance and communication, Tribby said.
“I believe the project needs more resources and it made sense with the timing of everything happening that we could take someone who has recently worked on the project at ACTC, who has relationships with the property owners, who understands the mitigation efforts and who worked on the road when he was employed here in public works for the city of Dublin — that’s the perfect fit for us,” Tribby said.
To McCorriston’s inquiry about goal-setting and evaluations of the firm, “My expectation is that we deliver on the project schedule that we showed you tonight,” Tribby said. “As long as we are sticking to that schedule, then I’m satisfied we are getting the work done.”
McCorriston suggested annual reviews of the firm’s progress to increase oversight. Mayor Sherry Hu and Vice Mayor Kashef Qaadri agreed on having yearly updates.
Councilmember Jean Josey said yearly check-ins weren’t necessary, since the contract is task-based already. Councilmember John Morada agreed with Josey.
Though split in their opinions, the council voted unanimously to approve the contract with Gray-Bowen-Scott with annual reviews.
As part of the meeting, the council also received an update on the project.
If the half-mile of roadway remains in county land, the project is estimated to cost $126.1 million for Dublin and $27.5 million for Livermore. The cost estimate will be updated once the 95% design is completed — it is anticipated for completion summer 2025.
So far Dublin has identified about $76 million for its portion of the project, composed of about $13 million from Tri-Valley Transportation Development Fee funds and $63 million from the Eastern Dublin Traffic Impact Fee program, which is sourced from an assigned reserve in the general fund. That assigned reserve currently has $59.5 million with the remaining $3.5 million to be designated at the end of the year.
The general fund will be reimbursed by the fee program as development occurs and fees are collected, according to the report.
The city must find about $50.1 million in additional funding for construction of the roadway extension.
Staff will continue to evaluate federal, state and local grant opportunities and work with Alameda County Transportation Commission to identify funding sources for Dublin’s share of the unfunded project costs, according to the report.
Not fleshed out at the meeting was potential, limited commercial development in the property east of the current city limits along the extension, as allowed by voter approval of Measure II.
“There is a pending litigation on Measure II,” Dublin resident Shirley Lewandowski said at the meeting. “That effort is still moving forward.”
The commercial development could help offset costs associated with that portion of the road, generate sustainable revenue for ongoing road maintenance, create new services in the community and bring new jobs to Dublin, according to the report.
Development of that area would require annexing that land into Dublin and amendments to the General Plan and related zoning for that area. If annexed in the future, Dublin would become responsible for the full cost of constructing the extension.
“I want to clarify that the roadway project and annexation are entirely two separate matters,” Tribby said. “Our focus remains on advancing the Dublin Boulevard extension project and alignment with the city’s priorities.”
The council is set to discuss the implications of annexation at a future meeting.
