VENTURA : Firm Is Offered Bridge Repair Work

A Camarillo firm Tuesday was offered a $68,000 contract to begin repairing the crippled Main Street Bridge in Ventura and open it to traffic by May, Ventura officials said.

J & H Engineering will begin emergency repairs by next week that will stabilize the upstream side of the overpass, which sank two inches during downpours earlier this month.

Initial repairs are expected to be completed within five weeks, allowing one lane of traffic to cross the buckled structure by May 1, Public Works Director Ron Calkins said.

Long-term repairs--to take three months and cost an additional $978,000, according to engineer estimates--will not begin until August. The downstream side of the two-lane overpass sank nearly six feet during the recent storm.

“We need to do something in the meantime to prevent further damage to the structure and to provide emergency access,” Calkins said.

The immediate repairs will cost $108,000, including the $68,000 J & H contract and other design and analysis expenses, Calkins said.

But the public works director said as much as 98% of the $1.08-million price tag might be reimbursed under a federal declaration of emergency made earlier this month.

Those funds should be received by the city within six months, Calkins said.

Once the upstream side of the structure is fixed, temporary traffic signals will be installed on each side of the repair zone, allowing vehicles to take turns crossing the drivable side of the bridge, Calkins said.