Why would a town the size of Williams put the main roundabout of its E Street rebuild at E and 11th Street?
Look at what's on 11th. Williams Jr/Sr High School is at 222 11th Street, and Williams Upper Elementary School is at 300 11th Street. City officials held the Oct. 21 groundbreaking for the E Street Complete Streets Project at that intersection, a block from both campuses, and every big decision in the project leads back there. That includes the route, the timing and even the money.
The Corner the Project Was Built Around
E and 11th was a problem long before anyone drew a roundabout. When the state first allocated money for the project, the Colusa Sun-Herald, published through the Appeal-Democrat, described the intersection, where F Street also comes in, as a place with conflict points between drivers, speeding and stop-sign violations. The city's reason for a roundabout then was simple: it would slow traffic and cut down the number of places where cars cross paths.
The groundbreaking itself made the same point. The Colusa County Pioneer Review reported that as officials gathered in a light drizzle on Oct. 21, a California Highway Patrol officer had a car pulled over on a stretch of road with no shoulders. Tasha Weaver, representing state Sen. Megan Dahle, got a laugh by suggesting the city had arranged the scene as a demonstration, and then said the finished project would help protect children on their way to school and get drivers to slow down.
City Engineer Dave Harden spoke to the roundabout question directly. "I know that there's been lots of discussions about the roundabout and the mini roundabouts," he said, according to the Pioneer Review. "They really are a safety feature that's going to provide safe crossings, it's going to reduce speeds."
The California Transportation Commission's 2023 Active Transportation Program score list labels the E Street Complete Streets Project a Safe Routes to School project. The September report in the Pioneer Review called it a corridor connecting downtown Williams with the areas around the city's elementary, middle and high school campuses.
What Gets Built, and Where
The main work covers about 3,000 to 3,500 feet of E Street between Sunset and Eighth Street. Beyond that, the work extends toward the school and up E Street to Husted Road, where the City of Williams project page lists added restriping. According to the city, the project includes:
- ADA-compliant concrete curbs, gutters and sidewalks
- Protected bike lanes
- Narrower travel lanes
- A raised landscaped median
- A roundabout at E and 11th Street
- A center turn lane
- Utility relocations and drainage improvements
City Planner Katheryn Ramsaur told the Pioneer Review that the 11th Street roundabout will have center turn lanes to keep traffic moving, and that two smaller roundabouts are planned at 12th Street and Pinewood Street. The City Council's Oct. 21 agenda also included a redesign of the 9th Street median for the project.
Most of the places Williams uses every day are on this stretch or a block off it:
| Place | Address |
|---|---|
| Columbia Bank ATM | 692 E Street |
| Williams City Hall | 810 E Street |
| Williams Jr/Sr High School | 222 11th Street |
| Williams Upper Elementary School | 300 11th Street |
| Williams Elementary School | 1404 E Street |
| Sacramento Valley Museum and the Old Gym | 1491 E Street |
Taken together, these show that E Street is the route between City Hall, three school campuses and the town museum. That makes it the street where a child walking to class and a driver running errands are most likely to cross paths.
How Housing Money Ended Up Paying for Sidewalks
For years the project had a plan but not enough money. Safety planning started with roadway assessments in 2016, Harden said, and the city first won a $9.1 million Active Transportation Program grant. The CTC's 2023 score list shows a total project cost of $11.76 million, with $9.141 million of the state request going to construction and $200,000 to non-infrastructure work. The CTC's October 2026 status report shows both pieces allocated in May and June 2026.
The gap was closed by money that was meant for something else. The Pioneer Review reported in September that Colusa County had received Regional Early Action Planning 2.0 funds for a housing project, approved in 2022, that never happened. The county and Williams worked with the California Department of Housing and Community Development to move the unused money to E Street, and the state signed off on Aug. 3. Williams is a subrecipient, so it submits its expenses through the county rather than directly to the state.
Here is the breakdown the September report gave for a project expected to cost about $12 million, not counting proposed water and sewer line work:
- Active Transportation Program grant: $9.14 million
- REAP 2.0 funds through Colusa County: up to $2,406,513
- City General Fund: about $453,655
"It does show that we do have a pathway to complete this project," Finance Director Rex Greenbaum said in that Pioneer Review story. "We are in much better shape now, especially with the REAP funds helping bring us that much closer to the funding we needed." At the groundbreaking, City Manager Yvonne Kimball said total grant funding had passed $12 million.
Who Is Doing the Work
Seven firms bid on construction, according to the city's bid summary. Teichert Construction came in lowest at $8,894,068, and the council gave it the $8.89 million construction contract.
On Sept. 16, the council picked Placerville-based Webster Engineering to handle construction management, inspection and contract administration. Webster ranked highest of three firms considered. Its base fee is about $980,000, and optional work on water and sewer improvements and project coordination could bring the agreement to no more than $1.12 million. Negotiations led by Kimball and Greenbaum cut about $224,000 from the base cost. Counting cuts to the optional work, potential savings reached about $392,000, or 26%. "It is just further proof that everyone is watching every penny of the public funding that goes out for projects and costs incurred related to this," Mayor Kate Dunlap told the Pioneer Review.
Webster's job goes beyond inspections. It also covers materials testing, public coordination and project closeout. Kimball said the whole project involves eight separate contracts.
When E Street Actually Changes
The Oct. 21 groundbreaking was ceremonial, with gold shovels and a red ribbon cut alongside the Colusa County Chamber of Commerce. Construction is expected to start in spring 2027 and move toward the school. The city hopes to schedule the work near the campuses during summer break so it causes less traffic trouble.
On that plan, the work closest to 11th Street would fall in the months when the Jr/Sr High and Upper Elementary are out of session.
This has been a long wait. In that early Colusa Sun-Herald report, the city was still choosing among turn lanes, bike paths, curbs, gutters, lighting and parking options, and then-City Administrator Frank Kennedy said construction wasn't likely before 2025. He also said water and sewer line replacement would be coordinated with the street work. Spring 2027 puts the first heavy equipment about eleven years after the 2016 safety assessments that started it.
Councilmember Alfred Sellers Jr. has served 16 years on the council and moved to Williams from the Bay Area 25 years ago. He summed up the wait in a few words to the Pioneer Review: "People deserve it. We have new families here, people coming in all the time."
If you live near E Street and want to know how next year's rebuild could factor into what your Williams home is worth, Amber W. Torres can walk you through it with real local numbers. Request Your Free Home Valuation, and we'll talk through your street and your block.
