City agrees to noise contract

The construction of three sound walls along the Foothill (210) Freeway in La Cañada Flintridge is expected to start in the next couple of months.

The City Council voted on Monday to accept a bid from Griffith Company for $3.3 million to complete the work. Council members also voted to dip into the city’s general fund reserves, if necessary, to close the gap between the budgeted amount for the project and the lowest bid received.

An additional $380,425 may be needed to construct all three sound walls, according to a staff report. City officials hope that they do not need to use all of that money.

“We are a little city and we have a small budget, so $380,000 is a lot of money to us and we hope not to spend that,” Mayor Laura Olhasso said on Monday.

Council members previously received only one bid for the project, which they rejected. After they readvertised the project, five bids were received. Griffith Company offered the lowest bid, which was slightly above a staff estimate of $2.9 million for the project.

Council members had the option to remove a sound wall from the project in order to cut costs, but they decided to go forward with the proposed project. The project is mostly funded through a Measure R transportation tax.

Sound walls will be constructed west of St. Francis High School, around the eastbound Foothill Boulevard freeway onramp to Berkshire Place, and along the south side of Curran Street between Indiana Avenue and Union Street.

Five property owners who live near the construction sites will be compensated a total of $25,000, supported by Measure R funds.

Construction is expected to start by February 2014.

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Follow Tiffany Kelly on Google+ and on Twitter: @LATiffanyKelly.

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