Part of building out certain roadway areas of Ripon is having available funding options.
Such is the case for River Road and Fulton Avenue as part of the area being developed northwest of town. A grant through the Active Transportation / Congestion Mitigation Air Quality Programs could help make possible improvements to the intersection and sidewalks.
The project was approved Tuesday by Ripon City Council.
Elected leaders, in turn, gave the nod to Base Camp Environmental Inc. on the general services agreement coupled with the resolution consenting on the functional classification change of River Road, voting 5-0.
In addition to reviewing the project site history along with any environmental contamination records – cost here is $4,000 – Base Camp will also handle the Farmland Form consisting agricultural land impact analysis for another $500.
Total cost on this phase was not to exceed $4,500.
Council members were provided with an overview of the River Road Intersection and Sidewalk Projects at last month’s meeting.  They directed staff to explore the potential of using Regional Surface Transportation Program funds rather than city transportation money to supplement the any available ATP / CMAQ grants for this project.
 According to Engineering Supervisor James Pease, the City has $677,000 in RSTP funds to go towards the construction phase and management, with an option of using slightly over $1 million from the Stockton Avenue Rehabilitation Project to River Road.
“Due to current reductions in the State Transportation Improvement Program, the Stockton Avenue project has been deprogrammed from the STIP and it’ unknown when or if the project will be placed again,” he said.
Pease added: “Because of the timing of the grant, it’s not possible to use the RSTP money to fund the design, right of way or the environmental phases of the project – so $82,000 of project expenses for these phases will be funded through the City’s Capital Transportation Account.”
The plans, in addition, calls for fully functioning stop lights not to mention construction targeted for mid 2017, Pease said.