Engineer: Overpass design changes should save City money

Construction that will eventually be done for the Del Oro housing development will reduce some costs for the Holland Road Overpass project.

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Changes in Caltrans regulations and the impact of adjacent housing construction will result in an increase to the design cost of the Holland Road Overpass, but the net result will be a reduction in overall project costs.

That was the message delivered by city engineer Nick Fidler on Wednesday to the Menifee City Council in the latest update regarding the $31 million freeway bridge project, scheduled to begin construction next year.

Fidler’s presentation to the Council was related to a request by City staff for an additional $280,928 to complete the agreement with design firm TY Lin. The allocation was unanimously approved moments after Fidler explained the reasons for the additional design costs and the expected construction savings associated with it.

TY Lin was awarded the design contract in 2014 for an amount not to exceed $1.76 million. At the time, city officials projected the construction completion date for the project to be in 2017. But in May of 2019, the City Council approved extending the design contract another four years after City staff acknowledged delays in acquiring right of way property from several parties.

In August 2019, the City Council approved appraisals and offer packages to six property owners for right of way purchases. The final right of way purchase was just finalized in July, however, further delaying a project that has been a topic of conversation since 2012, when mayoral candidate Scott Mann made “Build Holland First” part of his campaign.

While the Scott Road Interchange was completed in the interim with the help of regional funding and a higher priority given by Caltrans officials, the Holland Road Overpass project remained for the most part in limbo. In addition to delays in acquiring right of way, the project wasn’t guaranteed the remaining funding needed from regional sources until this summer.

And by the time City staff finally got the OK to move forward with Caltrans, the rules had changed somewhat, Fidler said.

“It’s common for projects of this size to experience delays,” Fidler said. “During these days, regulations and standards sometimes change. Caltrans has updated some of its requirements, and construction of the Del Oro project also has impacts on what was first designed in 2017.”

In response to an email sent to Fidler and other staff members by Menifee 24/7 earlier this week, assistant superintendent Rochelle Clayton included the following details:

“Unfortunately, due to the delay in the project schedule for additional funding and right of way acquisition, there have been several changes to the Caltrans Standard Plans, Standard Specification and Seismic Design Criteria. Due to these changes, the 95 percent complete plans that were originally submitted and approved by the City of Menifee and Caltrans in 2017 are now required to be updated to include the new Standards and Seismic Design Criteria for review and comment by both agencies.

“The primary change for the bridge structure was in the Seismic Design Criteria (2.0) Caltrans revisions, dated 10/31/19, which changed the way to analyze the seismic behavior of the structure in the event of an earthquake. To meet the new requirements, the previous seismic (static and dynamic) calculations will need to be updated for Caltrans review. In addition, these changes will require new detailing standards for both seismic requirements and revised standard plans.”

Fidler said Wednesday night that although the contract with TY Lin must be increased for design changes to accommodate the Caltrans updates, there will actually be a net reduction in cost to the project because of some construction aspects that can now be eliminated.

One component of the project that will be eliminated from the original cost was a proposed easement on the north side of Holland Road between Antelope Road and Hanover Road. Original plans called for the removal of landscaping along the roadway to make room for a maintenance easement. Fidler said ownership of the Cantabria Apartments originally agreed to the easement, but new ownership later objected.

The easement will be removed from the plans, Fidler said. He estimated a construction cost savings of $80,000 to $100,000 as a result.

“Yes, we do have to pay for the redesign of the work, but we do anticipate a net savings,” Fidler said.

Fidler cited an additional estimated cost reduction of $100,000 to $120,000 because a water infiltration basin proposed for property on the northeast corner of Holland Road and Hanover Road is no longer needed. The Del Oro housing development, which is under construction on the south side of Holland Road and is in the design process for the north side, will pay for a trapezoidal channel basin to deal with water draining issues.

And finally, Fidler said that changes in plans for the relocation of SCE utility poles in the area of the bridge could result in cost savings of as much as $1.2 million.

Fidler said City engineers met with Caltrans officials this week to request an expedited approval process. He said the construction project has gone out to bid and that the plan is to award the construction project by the end of October.

“I want to see this move forward as quickly as possible,” Mayor Bill Zimmerman said. “We may have expirations in permits coming up, and if we miss the deadline on those, it could cost the city more money.”

Fidler admitted it is difficult to estimate just how much net savings there will be to the City because of the uncertainty of construction materials availability and cost during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It's a tough one to analyze," he said. Before COVID, the cost of construction was considerably less. But overall, there is now less work the contractor has to do."