2 Freeway Safety Flaws Prompt Hearings

Today, state Assemblyman Lou Correa (D-Anaheim) will conduct the first of three hearings to examine the safety of substandard welds at the Orange Crush interchange.

Caltrans plans to spend about $4 million to replace 700 welds in bridge columns at the busy junction of the Santa Ana, Orange and Garden Grove freeways. The work is scheduled to begin in December or January and take about a year to complete.

The bridges were built three years ago. The problems were uncovered earlier this year, when 56 welds were removed from two bridge columns and tested. Caltrans plans to replace the welds, in column-strengthening hoops, with mechanical couplers.

Today’s forum begins at 10 a.m. at Rancho Santiago Community College, 2323 N. Broadway, Santa Ana.

Correa is billing today’s session as a question-and-answer meeting.

For more information, call the assemblyman’s district office at (714) 285-0355.

On Oct. 12, state Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Santa Ana) plans to quiz Caltrans officials about the faulty welds during a separate Senate Transportation Committee hearing, which will also focus on Caltrans’ system of issuing permits authorizing travel routes for oversized vehicles.

Earlier this year, a Westminster man was crushed to death by part of an oversized truck following a Caltrans-approved route when it struck a freeway overpass too low for it.

The Assembly Transportation Committee will conduct a hearing Nov. 18 in Santa Ana. At today’s session, Correa, a member of that committee, plans to discuss the quality of construction at the Orange Crush with Caltrans’ top bridge engineer, Jim Roberts.