Los Angeles Times Special Quake Report: One Year Later : Still Shaken / Challenges : The Comeback Trail / Twists and Turns on the Road to Recovery : Caltrans Repairs Outpace Retrofits

First was the good news: When the earth stopped rocking last Jan. 17, all 122 freeway bridges that had been seismically retrofitted in Los Angeles and Ventura counties remained standing--confirmation for Caltrans of the value of retrofitting.

Then came the bad news: 122 spans done, 579 to go.

In the months after the Northridge earthquake, Caltrans’ agenda for the region’s vast freeway system was simple: repair and retrofit.

A year later, restoration of the six major roadways that collapsed in the temblor is done, in considerably less time than originally predicted and at a cost of $250 million. But the more time-consuming and expensive task of shoring up older bridges--a process begun after the Loma Prieta quake of 1989--remains incomplete.

“After Loma Prieta, it was a very high priority. After Northridge, it is the priority,” Caltrans spokesman Jim Drago said.

Nearly 2,400 bridges statewide have been identified as needing strengthening. Drago said the first phase of the program, involving 1,039 bridges, should be completed by the end of the year. The 1,330 bridges in the second phase--identified just last summer--are scheduled to be retrofitted by the end of 1997.

Caltrans officials estimate the cost of this work at $1.75 billion, a whopping sum for an agency that some describe as sorely overextended. A bond measure that would have provided $950 million for retrofitting was soundly defeated by voters in June. However, the agency insists that the retrofit program will proceed, despite money woes and accusations in the past that Caltrans has dragged its feet on retrofitting.

“No retrofit job has been or will be delayed because of a lack of money,” Drago said. “Seismic retrofit has the first draw on funding.”

The Wilson Administration accelerated the retrofitting program in March following a Times special report that showed about 80% of California’s most vulnerable bridges had still not been strengthened. At the time, no work had been performed on six of the 10 freeway spans considered most hazardous in Los Angeles County, including such heavily traveled road areas as the junction of the Ventura and Golden State freeways.

Currently, those six bridges are under construction or close to completion, said Caltrans spokeswoman Margie Tiritilli.

Sixty-four bridges in Los Angeles and Ventura counties have been strengthened since the Northridge earthquake, said Jack Hallin, Caltrans acting district director. Another 174 were under way at the end of 1994, and work is due to start this year on a new batch of 134 bridges.

All 701 spans identified for retrofitting in the region are to be done by 1997 at a cost of $450 million, one-third of which has already been spent, Hallin said.

In addition to the freeways, city and county bridges are also being upgraded.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works expects that most of its 180 bridges will require strengthening. Nineteen are listed as high priority, work on 14 of these is completed or under way, said supervising civil engineer Aki Yonemitsu.

The city of Los Angeles has been slow to spend $376 million earmarked for building and bridge retrofitting in a bond measure approved by voters in 1990; an internal audit by the controller’s office earlier this month showed that work has been completed on only 15 of the 118 bridges.

City Engineer Robert S. Horii has accepted recommendations from a similar audit to change management methods and improve coordination among departments on bond-financed projects.