OCTA Will Spend $2.5 Million to Fix 405-55 Connector

The Orange County Transportation Authority agreed Monday to provide $2.5 million to fix construction defects on an unopened carpool bridge that will link the San Diego and Costa Mesa freeways.

OCTA board members voted unanimously to take financial responsibility for the repair to make sure the $12-million flyover is completed by year’s end. The repair work has become bogged down as OCTA, Caltrans and private contractors have wrestled over who should pay for the damage.

“We are in a bind,” said Arthur T. Leahy, OCTA’s chief executive. “We need to get the project funded so we can proceed. Then we will seek reimbursement from those responsible.”

The 60-foot-high connector is part of a $125-million project to improve the 405-55 interchange, one of the nation’s 10 busiest. Work on the bridge stopped last August after cracks and failing concrete were discovered along interior girders that support two of the span’s three sections.

Engineers say several factors caused the damage, including irregularly spaced steel reinforcing bars, thin concrete and too much tension in supporting cables through the concrete girders. Caltrans design standards also are at issue.

Officials initially feared that much of the connector would have to be ripped out and rebuilt at a cost of $8 million, three-quarters of the structure’s original cost. After months of investigation, however, engineers now believe the repair will cost about $2.5 million.

OCTA board members directed the agency’s staff to seek reimbursement for the repairs from the companies that are ultimately found responsible for the defects. They also discussed the possibility of hiring an attorney who specializes in construction matters.

“We need to go into litigation mode,” said Cathryn DeYoung, board member and Laguna Niguel councilwoman. “We need to start looking at the evidence to determine how to present the best case.”

CH2M Hill, an international engineering firm, designed the bridge using Caltrans design criteria. C.C. Myers Inc. of Rancho Cordova is the main contractor. Jacobs Engineering inspected the structure on behalf of OCTA, which is paying for the interchange project.

In other action Monday, board members unanimously approved a toll policy for the 91 Express Lanes, a 10-mile tollway that runs down the median of the Riverside Freeway. OCTA purchased the lanes in January from a private company for $207 million.

The policy, which will raise tolls under a congestion-based formula, was recommended last Friday by an advisory committee of elected officials from San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties.

Under the new policy, at the present traffic level a 75-cent toll increase would be triggered as early as next month for eastbound travel between 4 and 6 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays.

The policy, which is designed to regulate demand during the busiest travel periods, also contains a process for lowering tolls if traffic volumes fall below certain levels.

Officials say a policy for raising rates is needed to help pay for improvements to the 91, to keep the Express Lanes from becoming overcrowded and to satisfy Wall Street ratings agencies for a $200-million refinancing of the toll road in October.