MISSION VIEJO : City Awards Contract for Freeway Repairs

A $772,000 contract for badly needed improvements at the Crown Valley Parkway freeway interchange was awarded to Robert Bien William Frost & Associates by the City Council this week.

The contract, awarded Monday, will pay for design work on a newly configured ramp system for one of the area’s busiest surface streets.

The project will mainly consist of street widenings and will also add extra lanes.

Crown Valley Parkway at the Interstate 5 has been identified as a problem area in several traffic studies.

Several commercial projects are planned for the vicinity in the future, including the potential expansion of the Mission Viejo Mall and a proposed 351,000-square-foot cinema and mall complex, and are expected to bring increased traffic to the already congested area.

Farther away is the construction of a connecting road that would link Mission Viejo to Rancho Santa Margarita.

The Crown Valley Parkway improvements are part of a joint effort among Mission Viejo, the state Department of Transportation and Laguna Niguel.

Funding will come from a variety of sources, including Laguna Niguel, which will contribute $150,000, and the Crown Valley Parkway Corridor fee program, which will chip in $291,000.

The fee program is financed by assessments to new businesses along Crown Valley Parkway.

The city contacted two other firms, BSI Consultants and Williams & Schmid, to bid on the contract.

Staff recommended Robert Bien William Frost & Associates on the strength of the firm’s past work in the city.

The company has also done preliminary design work on the interchange project.