Electronic message boards have just gone up on the Brea portion of Carbon Canyon Road eastbound just past Valencia Avenue and westbound just past the Orange/San Bernardino counties line to notify residents and commuters of two back-to-back projects starting on 19 March and continuing well into May (or longer--see below.)
The first is the replacement of water distribution line components including deteriorated gate valves, air relief valves, blow offs, and pressure regulating valve vaults along the state highway from Carbon Canyon Regional Park to Brea water pump station #3. Further, the project entails the installation of water main isolation valves to minimize service interruptions and enhance operations of the system and improve accessibility for maintenance. Then, some 3,400 linear feet of 6" water mains will be removed and replaced by new mains with a 2" wider diameter from the aforementioned pump station to the San Bernardino County line.
The second project is that CalTrans is going to undertake the resurfacing of Carbon Canyon Road, which is why the City of Brea decided to put the water main project on the fast track, getting the latter completed before the former was to be done.
Initially, Brea was only looking to replace the valves and blow offs but decided to tack on the water main upgrades when the CalTrans repaving work became known. When the project went out to public bid, there were fourteen proposals received with a wide variance in estimates ranging from about $770,000 to almost $1.4 million. The low bid was submitted by a Pico Rivera firm that has done a number of projects in the city, including the "Financial Center" at Imperial Highway and State College Boulevard, and cleared requirements for a responsible bid.
With the accepted bid from the contractor, the standard 15% contingency for overruns and unexpected costs, and an additional 10% cost for construction engineering, the total costs are just under $1 million. Because the 2011-12 budget was for $600,000, staff went to the city council and received approval for the additional $390,000 to meet those construction costs. This comes out of the city's water fund and would not, therefore, affect Brea's general fund.
Notably, although the message boards state that work will be going through mid-May, Brea staff documents gave a four to five month timeframe for the water delivery system project. It has also not been publicly stated yet how the project will specifically impact use of Carbon Canyon Road. The message boards stress using alternate routes, though the only other nearby east-west ones are Grand Avenue, the 60 Freeway and the 91 Freeway. Anyone who drives these four routes knows that when one is shut down or restricted, especially during busy commute times, the impacts on the other ones can be significant.
And, this will evidently be going for several months, between the water system work and the repaving. So, this will certainly be interesting come the 19th!
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4 comments:
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Hello ME_lodi, I'm glad this was useful--I don't know how much notice was given to folks on the Brea side about this, but this looks like a major project that could, depending when the work is done (9 am- 3pm?), significantly affect traffic. Anyway, thanks for visiting.
Hi. Thank you for the info on the major projects going on thru Carbon Canyon. Since the project started a few days ago, how badly have drivers been affected? Are drivers affected before 9am or 3 pm?
Hello Anonymous, I haven't driven on the Brea side of the Canyon between 9 am and 3 pm, so can't say whether there has been any major impact from the work yet. I went through yesterday at about 7:15 pm or so and could see markings and some minor work done on the shoulders. Perhaps later, when lanes are closed for work under the roadway, it could be different. Also, I wouldn't expect there'd be much effect outside those work hours. Thanks for the comment.
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