OCTA Seeks Speedup of Freeway Project

Frustrated by the slow pace of construction along the jammed Costa Mesa Freeway, county transportation officials are considering chipping in as much as $1 million to speed the project along, officials announced Monday.

The money would be used to provide cash incentives to encourage contractors to complete their work faster. It is hoped that at least two months can be trimmed off the construction time.

Orange County Transportation Authority directors are already negotiating with Caltrans to hasten progress on the $118-million widening project, which was launched in 1999. Although Caltrans says the job is still on track to be completed next year, several phases of the roadwork have been delayed two to three months.

It is expected that both OCTA and Caltrans would put up money for the incentive, with some of the cash coming from Measure M transportation sales tax income.

“We don’t know how much it’s going to cost yet, but we’re definitely looking to speed things up,” said OCTA spokesman George Urch. “Speeding the project up by just two months would make an enormous difference for motorists.”

The project is designed to widen the Costa Mesa Freeway between the Riverside and Garden Grove freeways. Recently, OCTA director and County Supervisor Todd Spitzer complained that he seldom saw work being done along the freeway. He said that Orange County motorists were suffering because of closed overpasses and construction mayhem and asked for an investigation to determine whether the project had stalled.

On Monday, the OCTA’s chief executive officer, Arthur Leahy, reported that the Caltrans’ construction contract lacked any requirements or cash incentives that would encourage the contractor to complete all or portions of the project ahead of schedule.

He also said area residents and motorists were told that certain portions of the project would be completed at specific dates, even though Caltrans lacked the ability to ensure the work would be done by these dates. At least four of these project milestones have been delayed several months.

For its own part, Caltrans insists that the only true deadline for the project’s completion is early 2002, and that the contractor is on schedule to complete the work by that date.

Ken Nelson, the interim director for Caltrans District 12, said his agency would study the cost of speeding up the work and balance that against the inconvenience suffered by motorists under the existing schedule.

“We still need to determine exactly what is the best investment for the taxpayers,” Nelson said.