Ruling May Slow Bridge Strengthening : Highways: Judge orders state to sharply limit the use of private consultants and engineers for transportation projects, calling new law unconstitutional. Wilson will seek an appeal.

In a decision that could slow down the seismic strengthening of highway bridges, a Sacramento Superior Court judge ordered state officials Tuesday to severely limit their use of private consultants and engineers in the design of transportation projects.

Superior Court Judge Eugene T. Gualco said a new state law that Caltrans had relied on for broad authority to hire outside professionals for the design of highway projects is unconstitutional and the agency must restrict its use of private engineers to certain specified circumstances such as emergencies.

The only exemptions from the decision would be the construction projects under way to replace and repair highways damaged by the Northridge earthquake, the judge said.

Calling the decision “a direct threat to the safety and well-being of millions of Californians,” Gov. Pete Wilson said it would force the state to delay highway construction projects and slow down its top priority program, the seismic strengthening of bridges.

“Without the assistance of private engineers we are placing in jeopardy the state’s ability to deliver needed safety, seismic strengthening and other transportation improvement projects,” the governor said.

He said the state will immediately ask a higher court to overturn the decision.

Caltrans officials said a series of seismic retrofitting projects--scheduled to go out to bid this summer and estimated to cost $60 million--would probably be among the first to be affected by the order. They said it is too soon to identify other highway projects that might be delayed by the order. This year, the state has contracts with private engineers totaling about $106 million.

If the seismic retrofitting is slowed down by the decision, it will be the second time in about a year that the court case has delayed the program. An earlier decision in the same lawsuit forced Caltrans last year to order its private engineers to stop retrofit design. The stoppage lasted for several months.

Union officials argue that with nearly 10,000 engineers on its payroll, it is unnecessary for Caltrans to delay the seismic retrofitting program.

Bruce Blanning, executive assistant for the union, said Caltrans has used outside engineers for about a third of the seismic projects and their work could easily be done by in-house professionals transferred from other programs.

Caltrans spokesman Jim Drago said the agency will probably transfer engineers from other projects to the seismic program to complete the work that would have been done by outside engineers. Even so, he said, there will still be delays because engineers will need time to retrain and familiarize themselves with the seismic work.

The latest decision is a setback for the Wilson Administration that had relied heavily on the private sector to help it speed up a multibillion-dollar transportation construction program. In his campaign for reelection, the Republican governor has often credited this accelerated program for helping create jobs in the sluggish California economy.

For years, the Wilson Administration and its predecessor, the George Deukmejian Administration, have been battling with Professional Engineers in California Government, an employee union, over the hiring of outside consultants. The courts have repeatedly ruled in favor of the union, saying that the California Constitution essentially mandates that the state’s work must be done by state employees.