TRANSPORTATION : 21 Freeway Structures in Valley Need Retrofitting

Caltrans data show that 21 freeway bridges, interchanges and connector roads in the San Gabriel Valley are still too weak to withstand a strong earthquake.

After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in the Bay Area, Caltrans in 1990 identified road structures statewide that needed retrofitting because the columns supporting them tend to fracture in a quake. Caltrans scheduled 243 structures in Los Angeles County for quake strengthening, 48 of them in the San Gabriel Valley.

Four years later, 27 of those 48 retrofits have been completed and work is in progress on seven more. However, construction contracts have yet to be awarded for 14 structures in the region. Under a 1990 state law, all contracts were to have been awarded by the end of 1993.

The San Gabriel Valley retrofits are slightly ahead of neighboring Southland regions. Countywide 44% of the overpasses that need to be retrofitted are complete, compared with 56% in the valley.

The need to retrofit took on new urgency after the Jan. 17 Northridge quake. Ten of the 11 roadways that collapsed in that quake were scheduled for strengthening. The 11th was not on the list. All of the 106 county overpasses that had been retrofitted survived the temblor.

Caltrans’ chief engineer, James. E. Roberts, has called for the program to be put on an emergency schedule that allows for quicker awarding of contracts. Roberts said a court dispute with a union delayed retrofitting.

Critics of Caltrans maintain that the transportation agency has wasted time and money building freeways before securing old ones. Each bridge costs approximately $500,000 to retrofit and takes a year.

Road Work

The 21 road structures where retrofit has not been completed:

* San Bernardino Freeway (I-10) Campus Road ramp in Monterey Park.

* I-10 connector ramp to the busway in Monterey Park.

* I-10 bridge over Warwick Road in Monterey Park.

* I-10 connector ramp near the San Gabriel River.

* Two I-10 bridges over the San Gabriel River.

* Two connector roads between I-10 and San Gabriel River Freeway (605).

* Connector road between I-10 and Orange Freeway (57).

* Pomona Freeway (60) bridge over several El Monte streets.

* Two I-605 bridges over the Santa Fe Flood Control Basin.

* Alta Canada Road bridge over Foothill Freeway (I-210) in La Canada Flintridge.

* I-210 bridge over Santa Anita Avenue.

* I-210 bridge over 5th Avenue.

* I-210 bridge over the San Gabriel River.

* I-210 bridge over the San Dimas Channel.

* I-210 intersection with California Route 30.

* I-210 intersection with the Corona Freeway (71).

* Connector road linking the 71 and I-10.

* Connector road linking I-210 with the I-10 and 57.