LOS ANGELES COUNTY : Contract Awarded for Rebuilding Simi Freeway

Caltrans officials awarded a $9.7-million contract to a Fontana construction company Thursday to rebuild the eastbound quake-damaged portions of the Simi Valley Freeway in the north San Fernando Valley.

Brutoco Engineering and Construction is expected to reconstruct the underpass and the Bull Creek Canyon bridge on the freeway within 100 days. To meet the deadline, Caltrans officials say, crews will work 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

A bonus of $50,000 a day will be given to the construction company for work finished ahead of the deadline. If the deadline is not met, the contractor will be penalized $50,000 for each late day.

“Because of the urgent need to put Los Angeles and its transportation system back on its feet, we expect to have this key project completed within 100 days,” Caltrans Director James W. van Loben Sels said.

The westbound lanes of the freeway will opened first, using the existing structure, which is being shored up. Once repaired, this will hold three lanes of traffic in each direction--two mixed-flow lanes and one car-pool lane.