City Lab Blamed for Project Delays

Mistakes made at an engineering lab run by the city of Los Angeles led to lengthy delays in the construction of a freeway overpass in the San Fernando Valley and to more than $1 million in extra costs, confidential reports by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s inspector general conclude.

In June, the MTA’s board voted to pay an additional $1.4 million to Fontana-based Brutoco Engineering & Construction Inc. because its work as general contractor on the overpass was delayed about 200 days.

According to confidential reports by MTA Inspector General William Waters and obtained by The Times, the reason for the delay was faulty testing of concrete panels at a lab run by the Los Angeles Department of General Services.

“City lab testing of the concrete panels was defective, and caused delayed costs to the contract,” Waters wrote.

Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Brian Williams disagreed with Waters’ findings. “We have great faith in our city lab; it’s nationally recognized and meets all of the appropriate standards,” Williams said. “We just don’t think there was an error on our part.”

The report concludes that disagreement about the overpass, which connects Lankershim and Ventura boulevards near the Universal City Red Line subway stop, began in August 2000. The city objected to a Caltrans-approved construction method in which Brutoco used preformed concrete slabs as retaining walls. The MTA had already tested the walls for strength, found that they met regulations and given Brutoco approval to put them up.

But the city demanded that it conduct its own test of the concrete walls. It was allowed to do so, and performed its first tests in May 2001.

As the city conducted its tests, Brutoco had to suspend key parts of its construction schedule. As Brutoco waited, the report concludes, the city lab botched several aspects of its testing, leading to a faulty conclusion that the walls were too weak.

For example, the lab used procedures to collect and test concrete samples that did not match established standards of the American Society for Testing Materials, the report states.

The MTA inspector general also concluded that the city failed to keep documentation of its tests. City officials told investigators that they did not keep paperwork because “documentation would be redundant and would ‘make the file too thick,’ ” according to Waters’ report.

With Los Angeles and the MTA disagreeing on the concrete walls’ strength, a third round of testing by a neutral lab was ordered and performed last October. The tests found the walls met standards.

Robert Jensen, assistant general manager of the Los Angeles Department of General Services, said his lab performed well and sought only to ensure the walls were safe.

“We absolutely dispute the findings,” Jensen said. “We complied with every standard, the equipment we used was the right equipment

The inspector general’s office would not comment on the report or on Jensen’s response. MTA Chief Executive Roger Snoble would say only that his agency has a positive working relationship with Los Angeles and that he would continue to work with the city on construction projects.

The inspector general found that the city’s testing procedures ended up costing taxpayers $1.2 million as of last November. MTA officials later boosted the amount paid to Brutoco to roughly $1.4 million.

The overpass is part of several improvements made by the MTA after it opened the Universal City subway stop in 2000, including construction of a parking lot and bus portal. The construction has been costly. Four years ago, the MTA approved the improvement project at a cost of $28 million. The tab has now increased to $37 million.