Cupertino advances McClellan Road Bridge project with $1.28 million design agreement

Cupertino City Council on July 21, 2026, authorized the city to accept an $850,000 federal transportation grant and approved a design-professional-services agreement capped at $1,278,700 for the McClellan Road Bridge reconstruction project.

The action advances feasibility, environmental, engineering and design work. It does not authorize physical reconstruction, award a construction contract or establish a construction start date.

Design work comes before construction

The agreement with Biggs Cardosa Associates, Inc. covers evaluation of the existing bridge, a feasibility study, engineering designs and technical documents for environmental clearance. The scope includes environmental, geotechnical, hydraulic, roadway, traffic and bridge-scour analysis, as well as compliance with federal, California and Caltrans transportation requirements.

City staff said the design and documentation phase is expected to take approximately two and a half years. Future actions, including design approval and construction contracts, will be brought to the City Council as appropriate.

The $1,278,700 amount is the agreement’s total not-to-exceed ceiling. It is not necessarily money already spent.

An important Stevens Creek crossing

The bridge carries McClellan Road near McClellan Ranch and is one of only three east-west connections over Stevens Creek within Cupertino’s jurisdiction. The city’s staff report identifies the Stevens Creek Boulevard bridge, approximately one mile north, as the nearest other east-west connection.

Caltrans inspection materials identify the structure as Bridge 37C0220. The original bridge was built in 1920 and widened in 1976. The 2024 inspection record lists the deck and substructure in good condition and the superstructure in fair condition. It also lists the structure evaluation as “minimum tolerable,” a 47.5 sufficiency rating, and the bridge as open without a load restriction.

Cupertino’s Public Works staff report separately cites a 46.5 sufficiency rating and describes the bridge as nearing the end of its useful life. Because the two city-provided records display different sufficiency figures, this article does not treat either number as a newly established condition rating. Both records support the city’s decision to pursue a reconstruction project for an aging and strategically important crossing.

More funding is still needed

The city estimates that full reconstruction would cost approximately $9 million. Cupertino had previously secured $5 million in grant funding. With acceptance of the additional $850,000 Community Project Funding grant, identified project funding would total $5.85 million, leaving an estimated $3.15 million still unfunded.

The federal grant will be administered through the U.S. Department of Transportation. City staff said the design work is intended to advance the project toward a “shovel-ready” stage and improve its competitiveness for future grants needed to fully fund construction.

Before construction can begin, Cupertino will need to complete the design and environmental work, secure the remaining funding and take later project and contracting actions. If additional grants are not available, staff said the issue could return to the council for consideration of general fund support or direction to return the specified grant funds.

For residents and commuters, the immediate consequence is planning rather than road construction. Future design decisions and approvals will determine how the bridge is rebuilt and whether later work affects vehicle travel, bicycle and pedestrian movement or neighborhood access near McClellan Road and Stevens Creek.

Sources

• Cupertino City Council legislation: McClellan Road Bridge project