Start of Scott Road Interchange project delayed once again

Construction of a new Scott Road bridge over the 215 Freeway has been delayed again, a City of Menifee official said. File photo

Concerns about the qualifications of the low bidder among contractors has caused another delay in construction of the Scott Road freeway interchange, a Menifee city official reported this week.

Jonathan Smith, city engineer and public works director, said that the start of construction has been pushed back to the end of August and could be delayed further. His comments were made prior to the City Council's approval Wednesday night of a five-year Capital Improvement Plan for city infrastructure.

Carlos Geronimo, a city engineer making the CIP presentation, was asked for an estimated start of construction when the Scott Road project was mentioned. He responded with an August date, which represented the latest delay yet in a project whose original estimated start date goes as far back as 2015. He then referred the question to Smith for an explanation.

Challenges in acquiring funding and a re-design of the $57 million project resulted in years of delays, but those problems appeared to be solved last July, when city officials announced that all funding was in place and the redesigned six-lane bridge project over the 215 Freeway was completed. At that time, start of construction was estimated to be the spring of 2018.

Smith said Wednesday night that bids were solicited from contractors and the apparent low bidder was selected. It was determined that the bidder didn't meet Department of Transportation guidelines that 11 percent of the contract help qualify as Disadvantaged Business Enterprises, however. A DBE is defined by the Department of Transportation as "a small business owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals."

"The County reviewed the bid and determined that the bidder had made a good faith effort to meet the DBE goals," Smith said. "However, Caltrans did not agree and sent it back to the County to work with the second lowest bidder."

Smith said that the start of the project could be delayed past August while County officials work with both bidders. He said there are concerns that the original bidder could file a lawsuit.