TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Mark Danaj, City Manager
FROM:
Tony Olmos, Public Works Director
SUBJECT:Title
Sepulveda Bridge Widening Project Update and Approval of Amendment No. 2 to HDR’s Existing Agreement to Extend the Term and Provide Compensation of $147,989 for Additional Work (Continued from February 2, 2016 City Council Meeting) (Public Works Director Olmos).
APPROVE AMENDMENT
_________________________________________________________
Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Approve Amendment No. 2 extending the term until December 31, 2018 and increasing the compensation by the amount of $147,989,
2. Authorize City Manager to execute Amendment No.2., and
3. Select barrier treatment for traffic-side of bridge concrete barriers to match proposed outside barrier treatment.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
A combination of Federal, State and local funds in the amount of approximately $21 million dollars are available for this project. The current estimated project cost is approximately $17 million dollars. Amendment No. 2 presented for City Council’s consideration can be funded with available Measure R Highway Program funds (Attachment 1).
BACKGROUND:
Sepulveda Bridge is located on Sepulveda Boulevard between Rosecrans Avenue and 33rd Street. The bridge is 100 feet wide and spans 165 feet across a vacant AT&SF railroad right-of-way. The area east of the bridge is currently used for parking and the area west of the bridge is the Veterans Parkway and jog path maintained by the City. The existing bridge currently has three northbound and three southbound lanes in each direction. Sepulveda Boulevard immediately north and south of the bridge has three southbound and four northbound lanes. The proposed project will widen the east side of the bridge to provide a fourth northbound lane and remove the existing bottleneck at the bridge. The project will also improve the alignment of the roadway and safety conditions around the bridge (Attachment 2).
On June 5, 2012, City Council awarded a contract to HDR, Inc. for design, environmental documentation, and right-of-way acquisition services for the Sepulveda Boulevard Bridge Widening Project in the amount of $1,474,449.
On January 6, 2015, City Council approved Amendment No.1 to HDR’s contract in the amount of $493,091 to fund additional cost primarily attributed to additional Caltrans design requirements. Major items in the amendment included new studies (Advanced Planning Study & Fry’s Driveway Traffic Analysis), seismic retrofit design, more extensive retaining wall design, additional utility relocation, and additional drainage design. At this meeting, City Council also appropriated a design contingency in the amount of $150,000 for unforeseen items with the condition that any individual task orders exceeding $25,000 shall be approved by City Council.
On July 7, 2015, City Council authorized a change order to HDR, Inc. for preparation of Caltrans-required Phase II Environmental Work in the amount of $60,782. To streamline the process, the change order was funded from the design contingency. The work had been anticipated, but not been formally required by Caltrans before Amendment No.1 was executed. At the same meeting, staff also presented a summary of other task orders that had been issued under staff’s authority in the cumulative amount of $148,472 (Attachment 3).
Due to primarily right-of-way acquisition issues that have led to project delays, HDR has requested for Amendment No.2 for additional work required to complete the right-of-way acquisition and continue moving forward with the project for a not-to-exceed amount of $147,989 (Attachment 4). Major items in the amendment include additional Project Management, Meetings & Administration and Right-of-Way and Utility Coordination.
DISCUSSION:
Since June 2012, the Sepulveda Widening project has been in the environmental processing, permitting, and final design phase. The following provides a status update on the major project phases:
Design
Project design is 100% complete and is concurrently in final plan check with the City and Caltrans. After plan check, HDR will incorporate final comments and the final plans and specifications are expected to be completed by March 2016.
Permits and Approvals
The bridge and roadway are owned by the State of California and maintained by Caltrans. All plans must conform to Caltrans current standards and design methods, and must be ultimately reviewed, plan checked and approved by Caltrans. Caltrans maintenance staff will also continue to inspect and maintain the Sepulveda Bridge upon the project completion.
Since the project is partially funded by Federal funds, special authorizations (E 76) also need to be obtained at different stages of the project. The authorization for Project Engineering (design) has been previously approved. Authorization for Construction to allow for the City to advertise the project for construction will be initiated and obtained after the all of the required right-of-way has been obtained and certified by Caltrans.
All permits and authorization to advertise for construction bids are expected to be approved by Caltrans by July 2016.
Right-of-Way Acquisition
Temporary construction easements as well as permanent easements are required for the project. In addition, portions of four parcels and two smaller parcels on the east side of Sepulveda Boulevard must be acquired for the project. Offers have been made and negotiations with property owners are pending, but have been taking longer than anticipated. In addition, RREEF also required an Access Agreement to allow for utility potholing and soil boring on their property, which took additional time to process as well. All easements and agreements will be brought back for City Council consideration at subsequent City Council meetings between March and July 2016.
All right-of-way acquisition is expected to be completed by July 2016.
Other Contracts and Agreements Needed
In preparing for construction of this project, staff must also procure Construction Management and Inspection Services for the project. Staff will issue an RFP for these services and expects to come before City Council for approval of a consultant agreement in April/May 2016.
In addition, staff is also in the process of working with Caltrans to prepare a Cooperative Agreement that will define Caltrans oversight role during construction. Staff expects to come before City Council for approval of the cooperative agreement also in April/May 2016.
Construction
Construction phase is anticipated to start in early Fall 2016. The estimated completion date for construction is early 2018. During construction, Sepulveda Boulevard will remain open with 3 lanes in each direction during morning and afternoon peak traffic hours. However, during off-peak hours, northbound traffic will be reduced to 2 lanes and southbound traffic may be reduced to 2 lanes for construction, as well.
Proposed Amendment No. 2
As mentioned, there has been a significant delay in acquiring the necessary right-of-way for this project. As a result, HDR submitted a request for Amendment No.2 (Attachment 4). The following is a brief summary of the major elements in the proposed Amendment:
1. Additional Project Management, Meetings & Administration - The project schedule was extended approximately 6 months due to delays in securing the necessary temporary and permanent easements from the adjacent properties. The delay in securing the RREEF access agreement affected the completion of the design plans since soil borings and utility potholing was part of the critical path. To keep the other parts of the project moving forward, regular meetings and extensive communication between the project team members and outside parties will need to continue. In addition, Caltrans also required for the preparation of Phase II Environmental Investigations for all of the properties to be acquired, which also contributed to the delay.
The amount requested for the additional project management, meetings, and administration is $90,969.
2. Right-of-Way and Utility Coordination - HDR is required to provide additional coordination with property owners and stakeholders, including RREEF America, Chevron, 3500 Sepulveda Boulevard, City, and Caltrans. The work also included additional review of the appraisals and incorporating changes into the right-of-way certification package for Caltrans.
The original scope of work identified 2 utility relocations. This item incorporates work involved to coordinate the relocation of a Southern California Gas line.
The total amount of additional budget requested to complete the additional
work is $42,069.
3. Additional Structures Aesthetics Work and Detailing - Upon review of the proposed bridge widening plans, RREEF requested that a decorative barrier treatment be added to the traffic-side of the concrete barriers. Staff concurs that an enhanced treatment should be added and asked Caltrans to consider the possibility and provide direction.
Caltrans evaluated our request and concluded that the traffic-side (inside) of the barriers can be aesthetically enhanced, but would be limited to sandblasted patterns so the barrier width would only be slightly reduced. As a result, HDR provided City with several options. Upon selection of an option, HDR will modify the construction drawings to incorporate treatment details and finishes to incorporate the final barrier treatment. Treatment options are shown in Attachment 6. Staff recommends selection of the same barrier treatment as the outside of the bridge as shown on page 1 of Attachment 6.
The total amount of additional budget requested to complete the additional
work is $14,950.
CONCLUSION:
Staff recommends that the City Council receive this project status update on the Sepulveda Boulevard Bridge Widening Project, and approve HDR Contract Amendment No. 2.
Attachments:
1. Expenditure Analysis
2. Location Map
3. Previously Approved Design Contingency Expenditures
4. Proposed Amendment No. 2
5. Original HDR Agreement
6. Concrete Barrier Treatments
7. Powerpoint Presentation