By Khalida Sarwari
The Campbell Police Department will add two new vehicles to its fleet, the East Campbell Avenue Portal will incorporate public art into the project design and the first phase of the Winchester Boulevard project will be completed following the Campbell City Council’s approval.
At its Oct. 16 meeting, the council adopted a resolution approving the purchase of two new 2013 Chevrolet Caprice patrol sedans to replace a pair of patrol vehicles that were totaled in a multi-car crash on July 14.
The council voted to authorize the interim public works superintendent to award the contract for the cars to the lowest responsible bidder, Stevens Creek Chevrolet, at a cost of $34,500 per car. An additional $7,000 will go toward outfitting each of the new cars. The cost of both sedans is about $83,000 and will be reimbursed by ABAG, the city’s insurance provider.
The council also took action on the public art component of the East Campbell Avenue Portal Project, specifically authorizing the city engineer to issue a request for qualifications for public art by the end of the month. This step follows the council’s approval last month of the project’s preliminary design.
Aside from public art, the design provides 26-foot-wide pedestrian tunnels on the north and south sides of the state Highway 17 undercrossing, terraced landscaping and a city of Campbell entry emblem.
The $4.2 million project is part of the East Campbell Avenue Master Plan that was approved by the council in May 2007 and included pedestrian portals at the Highway 17 undercrossing to facilitate cyclists and pedestrians traveling from the Pruneyard and neighborhoods east of Highway 17 to downtown Campbell.
About $75,000 of the funds will be allocated toward the creation and installation of public art, which is within 1 percent to 2 percent of the total project cost.
Lastly, the council adopted a resolution accepting the completion of the first phase on the Winchester Boulevard improvement project. Some of the improvements called for in a master plan adopted by the council in 2009 include separated sidewalks with wide park strips, decorative pedestrian crossings and landscaped median islands.
The project was completed at a cost of about $1.4 million with a remainder of about $35,000 that may be transferred to the Hacienda Avenue Green Street Improvement Project.
New cars, public art, Winchester upgrades all in a night’s work for Campbell council
