High-Quality Work? Not for Caltrans

* What appears to be a massive failure of Caltrans’ quality oversight in construction of the Orange Crush interchange is only one symptom of a much larger problem in the construction industry.

Public works agencies beat down contract bid prices, then do not enforce their own specified quality standards.

The unspoken understanding is that most heavy construction is over-engineered anyway, and cost-saving shortcuts will never be detected and, with luck, will not cause problems until far in the future.

One way to make this look-the-other-way system work is to severely understaff the inspection/quality-assurance function--a la Caltrans. Rely instead on self-check, contractual quality boilerplate and touchy-feely quality-improvement programs.

Public agencies and major construction companies are controlled by accountants and lawyers beholden to constituents and stockholders. The measure of success for these individuals and their organizations is budget compliance and dividends, not monuments of engineering or even public safety.

Traditional oversight, such as hands-on inspection, nondestructive examination and compliance auditing, is designed to prevent problems. So ironically, quality programs, which are doing exactly what they are supposed to do, are often targeted to achieve short-term cost savings.

The tragedy in this shortsighted disregard for quality in construction is that the public will pay the price in money and lives for generations to come.

STU O’GUINN

Huntington Beach