Parade of Trucks to Remove Waste From Toxic Dump : Caltrans Engineers Will Try Again to Clear Route for Century Freeway

California highway engineers--armed with all the required approvals--are ready for another attempt at cleaning up the notorious Willco dump in Lynwood, a major impediment to completion of the Century Freeway.

In February, a parade of trucks--operating in virtual conveyor belt fashion--is expected to start hauling the dump’s hazardous materials to a chemical waste site nearly 200 miles away in the San Joaquin Valley.

The trucks, their toxic wastes covered with white tarpaulins, are expected to be highly visible on Southern California’s freeways as they travel near downtown Los Angeles and move across the heavily populated San Fernando Valley.

$15-Million Project

The California Department of Transportation estimates that it will take eight months and cost about $15 million to finish the mammoth cleanup job in Lynwood. Twelve million dollars was spent earlier on an abortive attempt to get the dangerous wastes out of the Century Freeway’s path.

Once the old dump is purged, Caltrans will begin work on the Century Freeway interchange with the Long Beach Freeway, one of four huge interchanges along the new freeway’s 17.3-mile route from Los Angeles International Airport to Norwalk.

Since the initial cleanup job was halted abruptly in February, 1984, touching off a series of angry lawsuits, Caltrans has been working with state, regional and special Century Freeway agencies to develop an acceptable plan to rid the dump of its toxic deposits.

There were fears that the cleanup job’s complexity, which was not originally recognized, would throw the $1.8-billion freeway off its tight construction schedule. Workmen began building the route across southern Los Angeles County in 1982 and it is expected to be ready for cars--an estimated 180,000 a day--buses and light rail trains by 1993.

Deadline Is Crucial

Now that the way has been cleared for the Willco dump cleanup, Caltrans officials say that, barring the unforeseen, no major stumbling blocks remain to meeting the 1993 construction deadline. That deadline is crucial because of an expected cutoff of federal interstate highway funds, which must be committed by 1990.

“The Willco dump is critical because it’s right in the path of the freeway,” said William Charbonneau, a Caltrans senior engineer. “All the roadblocks (to the dump’s removal) have been cleared.”

After approvals by the state Department of Health Services and other agencies, the last major hurdle was removed recently when the Century Freeway Affirmative Action Committee endorsed the cleanup job’s hiring goals. The autonomous committee, which keeps a tight rein on the freeway construction program’s hiring practices, agreed that 34% of the truckers hauling hazardous waste from the dump would be from minority and female-owned firms.

These truckers are specialists in the hazardous waste field. They must have the proper licenses, undergo truck inspections every 90 days and carry enough insurance--$1 million worth--to cover accidents along the route between the Lynwood dump and the San Joaquin Valley waste disposal site.

First of Its Kind

“This job is unlike any Caltrans has ever undertaken,” Charbonneau said. “It’s the first strictly hazardous waste removal project we’ve had. We learned the Willco dump contained hazardous material only after we got into the (original) excavation.”

The 14-acre dump contains toxic deposits of zinc, copper, chromium and other heavy metals, including leads from paint sludge and discarded car batteries. About two-thirds of the material was hauled away in 1982 under a contract that marked the formal start of construction on the Century Freeway. Another 100,000 cubic yards, buried as deep as 18 feet, remain to be removed.

After canceling the first cleanup contract, Caltrans wanted to “entomb” the remaining deposits under a layer of plastic to save money. However, public outcrys over the possibility of ground water contamination forced an exhaustive reexamination of the Willco deposits, resulting in the current cleanup project nearly three years later.

Solid Material

Charbonneau said the material is solid and will be easier to handle than if it were a sluggish, liquefied mixture.

“Because it is solid, it will be excavated with earth-moving equipment, but special precautions, such as steam cleaning, will have to be taken when the equipment leaves the site,” he explained.

The dump, about 1,500 feet long by 500 feet wide, is located in an old industrial section of southeast Lynwood adjacent to the Long Beach Freeway. When the earlier cleanup job was halted, the contaminated site was sealed with 12 inches of dirt and a protective fence was put up around it. Since then heavy growth has spread over the site, giving it a deceptively serene appearance despite warning signs posted along the fence.

Under the plan developed by Caltrans and other agencies, about 50 trucks a day--roughly one every 15 or 20 minutes--will be loaded with the toxic material for removal to the Chemical Waste Management facility in the Kettleman Hills northwest of Bakersfield, 190 miles from Lynwood.

Charbonneau said the trucks will follow a route carefully worked out with the California Highway Patrol. From Lynwood, they will enter the Long Beach Freeway on temporary ramps constructed for the original cleanup excavation.

The route will take them south about one mile to Rosecrans Avenue where they will swing north on the Long Beach Freeway to the Santa Ana Freeway--Interstate 5. They will follow it until they reach the Golden State Freeway near downtown Los Angeles and remain on it through the San Fernando Valley and over the Ridge Route into the San Joaquin Valley. From there, continuing north on Interstate 5, the route will take them to the California 41 turnoff to the Kettleman Hills disposal site a short distance west of Interstate 5. An alternate route has been established in the event of an emergency.

Precautions Planned

Checkpoints will be maintained along the route to monitor possible problems. Each trucker must keep a detailed log of his or her trip and undergo a brake inspection before heading down the Grapevine grade into the San Joaquin Valley.

Each hauler will make only one 400-mile round trip a day. Over the eight months or so, an estimated 6,000 trips will be logged.

Trucks hauling the hazardous Willco wastes will be easily spotted by other motorists using the freeways. The truck beds will be lined with plastic sealed with tape and covered by a white tarpaulin.

Unlike the earlier attempt to clean out the Willco dump, special precautions will be taken this time to contain any possible mishap in Lynwood, Charbonneau said. For example, the contractor will be required to have quick hardening foam available to spread over the excavation if odor should become a problem. As a further precaution, the dump will be sealed each night with a plastic cover to keep the toxic material from spreading if it should rain.

When Caltrans opened bids for the new cleanup job in early December, four proposals were received. Three were from large highway construction firms and the fourth came from the operator of the Kettleman Hills disposal facility--a showing that disappointed Caltrans because it had hoped that more specialists in handling hazardous materials would respond.

$12 Million an Issue

Nevertheless, the removal project will be worth about $7.9 million to the contractor Caltrans selects. Disposal fees in the Kettleman Hills will add another $7.5 million to Caltrans’ costs. Still an issue is another $12 million Caltrans spent on the initial cleanup attempt.

Originally a sand quarry, the toxic site was created in the early 1950s when it was used as a dumping ground for industrial wastes from Lynwood and surrounding communities.

The earlier cleanup project marked Caltrans’ much-ballyhooed start of work on the Century Freeway after nearly a quarter-century of planning and federal court-imposed delays. However, numerous problems developed in handling and hauling practices and Caltrans halted the job, touching off a tangled legal fight. The agency filed suit against the contractor, Andrew Papac & Sons of South El Monte, seeking reimbursement and damages totaling $22 million. Papac countersued, also asking damages and claiming that Caltrans still owed on its contract.

Charbonneau said that as soon as the new cleanup job is completed, work will begin on the Century Freeway’s interchange with the Long Beach Freeway. The $110-million interchange will cover about 60 acres, including the entire Willco dump site and a stretch of the Los Angeles River west of the Long Beach Freeway.

MOVING THE WILLCO DUMP The toxic waste buried in Lynwood’s Willco dump must be moved to make way for a Century Freeway four-level interchange. Engineers plan to haul the topsoil 200 miles away. Some facts and figures: Size 14.5 acres What’s buried Zinc, copper, chromium, lead, heavy metals Removal costs $7.9 million Disposal fees $7.5 million Disposal site Kettleman Hills, San Joaquin Valley Cleanup start February, 1987 Time Required 8 months