Connector JPA

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Connector JPA The Southeast Connector is a transportation corridor that connects Interstate 5 to Highways 99 and 50 through Sacramento and El Dorado Counties

Shaping the future of transportation infrastructure, the Connector JPA oversees the development of Sacramento's vital 34-mile, 4-lane, SouthEast Connector Expressway. This innovative project will streamline travel between the Sacramento region, including Elk Grove, Folsom, and Rancho Cordova, boosting economic growth and enhancing community connectivity.

10/23/2026

At the time of recording, Harvest Water had close to $420 million in outside funding lined up for its $597 million budget.

Jofil Borja manages the administrative program management office for the project at the Sacramento Area Sewer District. Most of the money comes from the state through Proposition 1 and the California Water Commission, tied to a commitment to deliver ecological benefits to the region for 84 years.

The rest includes $30 million from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and a $5.5 million cost share from the Sacramento County Department of Transportation. A $1 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant and $15 million from the State Water Resources Control Board are also lined up.

Along with 42 miles of new pipeline, the project improved close to 40 miles of rural roads in southern Sacramento County, some of which had been deteriorating for years.

Those roads carry farm traffic in a county where agriculture is roughly a half-billion-dollar industry, according to the Sacramento County Farm Bureau and the county agricultural commissioner.

“You need to be able to get their products from point A to point B.”

Construction ran as six projects at the same time over about 18 to 24 months, with a counterpart at the district overseeing the capital program management office alongside consultants and contracted construction companies. “It takes a whole village, Derek. It really does.”

At the time of recording, every impacted road had reopened. The pump station at the EchoWater facility was still under construction, along with on-farm connection assemblies that tie the new pipes into growers’ irrigation equipment.

Guest: Jofil Borja, Environmental Legislative & Regulatory Affairs | Harvest Water APMO, Sacramento Area Sewer District

Hear from government and public sector leaders, transportation executives, funding decision makers, development managers, and more who are shaping our industry.

Watch more of the Between Two Shovels show and subscribe to our Connector JPA project updates email list at connectorjpa.com/between-two-shovels

Title: How Harvest Water Was Funded and Built: $420M in State Funding, 42 Miles of Pipeline

10/22/2026

Infrastructure funding in California works a lot like Hungry Hungry Hippos. The money is out there, and every region in the state is reaching for the same pool.

I walked through the strategy behind our 2026 state funding application for Grant Line Road: where our matching dollars came from, what the California Transportation Commission actually scores, and why one application from a county carries more weight than three.

The Sacramento Transportation Authority Board voted unanimously on September 10 to make Grant Line Road the region’s only LPP nomination this cycle.

Hear from government and public sector leaders, transportation executives, funding decision makers, development managers, and more who are shaping our industry.

Watch more of the Between Two Shovels show and subscribe to our Connector JPA project updates email list at connectorjpa.com/between-two-shovels

Title : $25M for $25M: How State Road Funding Really Works (SB 1 LPP)

10/22/2026

A bridge project in Sacramento made it all the way to bidding, and the bids came in too high to build it.

Our region is constrained in its river crossings, and new bridges are among the infrastructure Sacramento needs most. The city of Sacramento worked on this project for years.

It was approved and designed and went through the whole process. Then it reached the finish line without enough money.

When bids come in too high, the agency has to start brainstorming ways to find the funding right away. The gap is major, and closing it will take time.
This is inflationary cost pressure at work. As the cost of bids goes up, some projects don’t get built at all, even after years of planning.

It’s a local example of what we’re seeing in the national and global infrastructure market. Energy, oil, and technology costs can’t be controlled at the local or state level, and in California, one study put bid increases at 9% year over year.

Hear from government and public sector leaders, transportation executives, funding decision makers, development managers, and more who are shaping our industry.

Watch more of the Between Two Shovels show and subscribe to our Connector JPA project updates email list at connectorjpa.com/between-two-shovels

Title: How Inflation Stops Infrastructure Projects

🌐 Your Connector JPA website essentials, all in one place.Looking for the project overview? Board information? Financial...
10/22/2026

🌐 Your Connector JPA website essentials, all in one place.

Looking for the project overview? Board information? Financial reports? Our new website makes it easier to find the resources and information you need to stay connected.

Explore the site and discover what's available.

👉 Visit http://www.ConnectorJPA.com
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10/21/2026

As executive director of a project delivery agency, my message to our team is to move as fast as we can.

At the time of recording, infrastructure is in a high inflationary cost environment. It doesn’t matter whether the project is a road, a rail line, an airport, a seaport, or a reservoir. Everything costs more to build.

The rate of increase is well above the 2% or 3% range. One study I came across found that in California, the cost of bids is going up 9% year over year.
That means every year it takes to build something, it gets more expensive. It’s a race against time, and you’re never going to win it.

Our job as project leaders is to get projects out as fast as possible. Cost escalation reinforces the urgency to keep each one moving toward construction.

We don’t always hit our deadlines, but we always try. Working closely with our consultants, we set aggressive deadlines to get each project out to construction.

Hear from government and public sector leaders, transportation executives, funding decision makers, development managers, and more who are shaping our industry.

Watch more of the Between Two Shovels show and subscribe to our Connector JPA project updates email list at connectorjpa.com/between-two-shovels

Title: Why Infrastructure Costs Keep Rising

10/21/2026

I took a wastewater treatment class in college as a civil engineer, so I asked Jofil Borja where Harvest Water came from.

Harvest Water takes highly treated wastewater from the Sacramento Area Sewer District that would otherwise go into the Sacramento River. The $597 million project sends it to roughly 16,000 acres of farmland and habitat in southern Sacramento County, south of Elk Grove.

The groundwater benefit comes through in-lieu recharge. Growers irrigate with the recycled water instead of pumping from their own wells, so the local water table, which has been slowly dropping, has a chance to rise.

The water comes from the district’s EchoWater facility in Elk Grove, a project of close to $1.7 billion completed a couple of years before recording. Close to 2,000 acres of buffer lands around the plant are kept as protected habitat.

The district began studying wider use of recycled water in the late 2000s. In the early 2010s, a state requirement to upgrade to tertiary treatment added a cost estimated at the time at close to $2 billion.

The district’s board then looked for a way to keep that treated water in the region instead of discharging it to the river. Surface water rights were also in play.

“We have purveyors south of our region that would love to have the rights for that water.”

Proposition 1 opened a path in 2014. Its water storage program, run by the California Water Commission, offered competitive state funding to storage projects that could show public benefits, with at least half of those benefits required to be ecosystem improvements.

Guest: Jofil Borja, Environmental Legislative & Regulatory Affairs | Harvest Water APMO, Sacramento Area Sewer District

Hear from government and public sector leaders, transportation executives, funding decision makers, development managers, and more who are shaping our industry.

Watch more of the Between Two Shovels show and subscribe to our Connector JPA project updates email list at connectorjpa.com/between-two-shovels

Title: What Is Harvest Water? How Sacramento Turns Treated Wastewater Into Farm Water

10/20/2026

Many of the landowners I work with along our corridor have owned their property for a very long time, often for generations.

Their ties to the land go back a long way, and I believe they should be treated as its stewards.

No two parcels are alike. Each one has a different use, a different need and a different owner, so any conversation about acquiring a strip of it has to be tailored to the people involved.

Our general policy is open communication. If you own land along the corridor, you can call me directly. I will pick up the phone, and I will return your emails.

The project will evolve over many years, and plans will keep developing during that time. Any landowner who wants to talk about those plans and the future of the corridor can reach us, and we are available to do that.

Our project runs over 30 miles. That adds up to a lot of frontage and a lot of landowners, and every one of them is a stakeholder.

Hear from government and public sector leaders, transportation executives, funding decision makers, development managers, and more who are shaping our industry.

Watch more of the Between Two Shovels show and subscribe to our Connector JPA project updates email list at connectorjpa.com/between-two-shovels

Title: Own Land Along a Road Project? Here's How We Work With Landowners

🎙️ Don't miss what's next on Between Two Shovels.Stay up to date with new podcast episodes, conversations, and insights ...
10/20/2026

🎙️ Don't miss what's next on Between Two Shovels.

Stay up to date with new podcast episodes, conversations, and insights about transportation infrastructure, project delivery, funding, engineering, and more.

📧 Sign up for podcast updates and have new conversations delivered straight to your inbox.

👉 Join the list here: http://www.ConnectorJPA.com/podcast-updates
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Follow the road ahead! 🛣️ Sign up for more updates on https://www.connectorjpa.com/project-updates ✅

10/19/2026

Buying land for a road also means deciding how people will get onto it.

Right-of-way is the public's right to travel within a corridor. There are many kinds, including road, rail and marine right of way.

For the Capital SouthEast Connector, each strip of land we acquire comes with access rights attached. Those rights determine how the public can reach the facility once it is built.

Roads differ a lot in how tightly they control access. Freeways sit at the top tier, with no driveways at all and entry only at interchanges. Arterial roadways restrict driveways, while the street your house is on has very little restriction because every home along it has one.

An expressway manages access. Everyone along it still gets in and out, but where and how that happens is controlled.

That work starts early. As our engineering team develops the project and puts the plans together, we build a coordinated strategy for how each landowner will reach the expressway.

Hear from government and public sector leaders, transportation executives, funding decision makers, development managers, and more who are shaping our industry.

Watch more of the Between Two Shovels show and subscribe to our Connector JPA project updates email list at connectorjpa.com/between-two-shovels

Title: Right of Way and Access Control Explained for Road Projects

10/19/2026

Six construction crews worked at the same time to build Harvest Water, over about 18 to 24 months.

The work put in 42 miles of new pipeline and improved close to 40 miles of roads in southern Sacramento County. Jofil Borja runs the administrative program management office for the project at the Sacramento Area Sewer District.

His counterpart at the district oversees the capital program management office, working with a team of consultants and the construction companies under contract.

The team set out to keep residents able to get in and out, hold disruption to a minimum, and leave every road it built over in better shape than before.

“We know there’s going to be impact. We know there’s going to be disruptions to the local neighborhoods.”

That meant daily coordination with the local school district, the county transportation department, the California Highway Patrol and the sheriff’s office. An outreach program kept residents informed and gave them people to contact if problems came up.

At the time of recording, most if not all roadway construction was done apart from punch list items, and every impacted road had reopened.

Guest: Jofil Borja, Environmental Legislative & Regulatory Affairs | Harvest Water APMO, Sacramento Area Sewer District

Hear from government and public sector leaders, transportation executives, funding decision makers, development managers, and more who are shaping our industry.

Watch more of the Between Two Shovels show and subscribe to our Connector JPA project updates email list at connectorjpa.com/between-two-shovels

Title: Managing Six Construction Projects at Once: Harvest Water’s 42 Miles of Pipeline

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10640 Mather Boulevard
Mather, CA
95655

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