SAN DIEGO -- Outcry from the off-roading community and Borrego Springs residents has prompted the California Department of Transportation to speed up a construction project that was scheduled to close a stretch of state Route 78 for two months, it was reported Thursday.
Instead of the highway being closed from March 6 to April 30 to repair a bridge over San Felipe Creek -- a move that would have forced thousands of motorists to take an hour-long detour though Borrego Springs to get to the desert for off-roading -- the repairs will be competed in 11 days, March 12 through 23 weather permitting, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Spring is a popular time of the year in the desert, when off-roaders throng to the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area and the sand dunes beyond by way of Route 78.
The new closure will avoid spring break for most schools and include just one weekend.
After several weeks of negotiations with contractor MCM Construction of Sacramento, the new schedule was agreed to Wednesday. MCM will commit more workers and equipment so it can complete the work weeks ahead of schedule, Caltrans spokesman Hayden Manning told the Union-Tribune.
MCM will work around the clock and receive an incentive of $500,000, bringing the total price tag of the bridge safety upgrades to $4.75 million, the newspaper reported.
Manning said the contractor will be penalized $100,000 the first day and $20,000 per day for the following six days if the work is not completed on time. If the project goes into the last weekend of March, there will be an additional penalty of $120,000, the Union-Tribune reported.
Wow, makes you wonder how hard/fast cal trans was really planning on working when they gave a 2month eta.
