For City Council Meeting July 22, 2025
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Tanya Williams, City Manager
FROM: Tim Sullivan, Assistant City Manager
Title
Request City Council to (1) Adopt Resolution No. 8388 Accepting Grant Funding from San Bernardino County Transportation Authority in the amount of $976,750 for the Smart Corridor: Riverside Avenue Project; and (2) Authorize the City Manager or Their Designee to Execute all Related Documents.
(ACTION)
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1) Adopt a resolution accepting grant funding from the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority in the amount of $976,750 for the Smart Corridor: Riverside Avenue project.
2) Authorize the City Manager or their designee to execute all related documents.
BACKGROUND
On January 14, 2025, San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA) released a Request for Information (RFI) to local jurisdictions for the development of Smart Arterial Corridors in the San Bernardino Valley. The purpose of the RFI is to award up to $5 million in funding to local jurisdictions for investments in upgrades to traffic control equipment and signal coordination on up to five arterial corridors. The maximum award amount was not to exceed $1,000,000.
As part of the recently completed Smart County Master Plan by the San Bernardino County Council of Governments, one key focus is to establish a set of smart corridors within the San Bernardino Valley Coordinated Traffic Signal System. These corridors will prioritize upgrades to traffic controller technology and communications to enhance traffic flow.
On March 11, 2025, the City Council authorized staff to submit an application in response to the RFI. The City’s proposed project focused on improvements along Riverside Avenue, a critical corridor intersecting multiple major arterial and collector roadways.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION
On June 4, 2025, the SBCTA Board of Directors approved the City of Rialto’s application to receive grant funding for the Smart Corridor: Riverside Avenue in the amount of $976,750.
The City currently utilizes a semi-actuated signal system with standard video detection on major corridors. This system operates on a traditional time-of-day-based signal timing with coordination on certain corridors. The current practice is common across Southern California. However, changes in technology, particularly “Intelligent Transportation System” (ITS) technology, allow traffic to be managed much more effectively and efficiently. Staff has evaluated the City’s current system and proposes improvements along Riverside Avenue, from Valley Boulevard, just north of the Interstate 10 (I-10) Freeway, to Merrill Avenue.
The Riverside Avenue corridor is classified as a major arterial and intersects with the I-10, which serves as Southern California’s primary east-west corridor. Riverside Avenue currently serves over 35,500 average daily trips, with significant peak-hour traffic exceeding 2,000 trips. As a major arterial, Riverside Avenue intersects with multiple major arterials, collector roadways, major commercial centers, and Rialto’s facilities at the Jack Simonson Center and Rialto Senior Center, serving a large portion of the City. To ease the congestion, the project will utilize recent technological advances to better detect and analyze traffic conditions in real-time and provide remote interface capabilities, allowing for active corridor management. The implementation of ITS technology on the corridor will provide engineers with real-time traffic volume, delay, and classification data, allowing for significantly enhanced signal timing capabilities and enabling active management practices. The project will upgrade technology through the provision of upgraded communications, AI-enabled video analytics, and remote interface capabilities with existing traffic signal controllers and equipment deployed in the field.
The implementation of active corridor management will enable City staff to dynamically adjust signal timing as traffic conditions change. Through real-time data collection and ongoing analysis, engineers will receive alerts when traffic conditions change significantly, allowing for immediate signal timing adjustments to optimize traffic flow efficiency. The project will provide substantial benefits to the City, including significant congestion relief, enhanced safety improvements, reduced intersection delays by up to 15%, decreased red-light running incidents, improved traffic flow smoothness, and enhanced pedestrian safety.
Staff recommends that the City Council accept the grant funding for the Smart Corridor: Riverside Avenue project in the amount of $976,750. If approved, staff will work with SBCTA to finalize a funding agreement and initiate the project.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:
The proposed action is not a “Project” as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Pursuant to Section 15378(a), a “Project” means the whole of an action, which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. According to Section 15378(b), a Project does not include: (5) Organizational or administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY:
This action is consistent with Guiding Principle 3 in the General Plan:
Our City government will lead by example, and will operate in an open, transparent, and responsive manner that meets the needs of the citizens and is a good place to do business.
Approval of this action also complies with the following City of Rialto General Plan Goals and Policies:
Goal 3-6: Require that all developed areas within Rialto are adequately served with essential public services and infrastructure.
Policy 3-6.1: Coordinate all development proposals with other affected public entities to ensure the provision of adequate public facilities and infrastructure services.
Goal 3-7: Upgrade public infrastructure as an inducement to promote private investment.
Policy 3-7.1: Link redevelopment tools with the processes of community facilities district formation and other similar funds to improve roadway and utility systems in areas with the greatest need for upgrades.
Goal 4-1: Provide transportation improvements to reduce traffic congestion associated with regional and local trip increases.
Policy 4-1.1: Establish and maintain standards for a variety of street classifications to serve both local and regional traffic, including Major Arterial Highways, Major Arterials, Secondary Arterials, Collector Streets, and Local Streets.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney’s Office has reviewed the resolution and approved it as to form.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Operating Budget Impact:
The proposed action will not affect the City’s Operating Budget.
Capital Improvement Budget Impact:
Staff is recommending accepting the grant of $976,750 and adopting a resolution to amend the FY 2025/2026 budget in the Grants Project Fund Account No. 22234429-47536 and appropriate the corresponding expenditures in Account No. 22234429-53001.
The match in the amount of $225,000 will be appropriated in the Measure I Fund, Account No. 22014310-53001, and the project will be included in the Measure I CIP 5-Year Expenditure Strategy for FY 2025/2026.
Licensing:
A Business License application and payment of a Business License tax is not required for this action.