CENTRAL : FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Night Crew Added on River Project

Construction on the Santa Ana River flood-control project is running a few weeks behind schedule, but a night crew was added to complete the work before the rainy season begins, county and federal officials said.

Officials with the Army Corps of Engineers said Wednesday that work fell behind schedule in June because of unexpected heavy rains and flooding of the river channel.

Edward Andrews, Corps of Engineers project manager on the lower Santa Ana River channel, said work to pave the channel bottom and side slopes with new, thicker concrete will be completed by Nov. 1.

“It’s top priority,” Andrews said.

The night work being done is just north of the San Diego Freeway between MacArthur Boulevard and Segerstrom Avenue in Fountain Valley. Construction on this phase of the project stretches northward to 17th Street in Santa Ana.

Andrews said the worst-case scenario, if the work is not completed before the winter flood season, is that the thinner concrete lining already removed from the embankments will be replaced to forestall any flooding.

Andrews said the extended work hours--from 6 a.m. to midnight Monday through Friday and daytime on Saturdays--will put construction back on schedule. The contractor for this phase is CBPOof America Inc. of Sherman Oaks.

Orange County officials said a noise-monitoring program is being conducted--after 8 p.m. and before 7 a.m.--to ensure that the county’s noise ordinance is not violated.

Terrie Medeiros,county project manager for the lower Santa Ana River, said that residents and businesses in the area of nighttime work will be notified. Medeiros said the area is primarily industrial and that there have been no complaints since the work began about three weeks ago.

Medeiros also said that the cities of Fountain Valley, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana have agreed to support the night work.

Fountain Valley Mayor Laurann Cook said the city has not received any complaints about the night construction. “But we’re monitoring any increase in noise,” Cook said, adding that should there be any, “we will register a protest.”

The work is part of a $1.4-billion flood-control project to provide increased protection for Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The channel project stretches from the Pacific Ocean to the Prado Dam, just beyond the eastern border of Orange County. In other phases, construction is set to be completed Nov. 1 on the portion from Adams Avenue north to the San Diego Freeway.

The first phase of the project, between Pacific Coast Highway to just south of Adams Avenue, was completed last month.

Work in the Santa Ana River channel is planned to resume April 15.

Residents or others encountering any problems related to the channel project can call Bill Gallegos,the Corps of Engineers’ resident construction manager at (714) 645-6918 or Andrews at (213) 894-6386.