Supervisors approve contract to extend Little Gopher Canyon Road bridge life

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors authorized the advertisement for bid and subsequent award for preventive maintenance work contracts for eight county-maintained bridges, including a bridge over Little Gopher Canyon Road over Gopher Canyon Creek in Bonsall.

Two separate 5-0 votes June 20 allowed for separate contracts due to different Federal programs. The contractor who performs the maintenance on the Little Gopher Canyon Road bridge will also handle the Japatul Road bridge over the Sweetwater River in Alpine, the Alpine Boulevard bridge over Viejas Creek, the Steele Canyon Road bridge over the Sweetwater River in Rancho San Diego, and the Honey Springs Road bridge over Dulzura Creek. Those five bridges are on the Federal aid system due to their road classifications. The other contract will cover bridges along Lawrence Welk Drive in the Escondido area, Old Highway 80 in Pine Valley, and Mesa Grande Road in Santa Ysabel which are not on the Federal aid system due to road classifications but which are still eligible for Federal funding.

The work will include sealing bridge decks, painting railings, removing and replacing asphalt at the bridge approach, and patching concrete. “The preventive maintenance is to extend the service life of the bridges,” said county Department of Public Works project manager Jill Bankston.

The Federal Highway Administration’s Bridge Preventive Maintenance program provides Federal funding of up to 88.53 percent of the design, construction, and preventive maintenance costs. Preventive maintenance activities include reducing the amount of water infiltrating the bridge, protecting bridge elements, slowing deterioration, and installing erosion countermeasures. The California Department of Transportation distributes the Bridge Preventive Maintenance program funding to jurisdictions in California.

If a bridge is at least 20 feet long, it is eligible for Federal Highway Bridge Program funding. The county maintains 192 such bridges and inspected all 192 structures as part of its bridge prevention maintenance plan. That allowed the county to determine which bridges would benefit most by preventive maintenance, and the plan was sent to Caltrans for approval. The county then began developing specific projects to achieve the elements of the plan.

“These are the ones that would benefit the most from funding,” Bankston said. “These are bridges that aren’t ready to be replaced.”

The Little Gopher Canyon Road bridge was constructed in 1959, the Alpine Boulevard bridge was built in 1969, the Japatul Road bridge dates back to 1973, the Steele Canyon Road bridge has served travelers since 1989, and the Honey Springs Road bridge has been in place since 1990.

The 88.53 percent Federal funding will provide for $597,577 of the $675,000 budgeted cost for the contract to replace the Bonsall, Alpine, Rancho San Diego, and Dulzura bridges with Highway Users Tax Account revenue derived from the state’s excise tax on gasoline providing the remaining $77,423. Federal funding will provide $376,252 for three bridges off the Federal aid system with $48,748 of Highway User Tax Account revenue covering the remainder of the $425,000 estimated cost.

Both contracts have a project construction start estimate of summer 2012 with completion expected by late fall.

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