Crews are working to complete the SR 71 Expressway to Freeway Conversion Project, a $174.544M project that will deliver upgrades in the city of Pomona and the Los Angeles/San Bernardino County Line.
(OHLA USA photo)
OHLA USA Inc. began work on Phase 1 of the California Department of Transportation's (Caltrans) SR-71 Expressway to Freeway Conversion Project in spring 2021 and crews are hard at work to deliver it by summer 2025.
The $174.544 million project, taking place in the city of Pomona, covers 2.7 mi. between SR 71/I-10 interchange (Mission Boulevard) and the Los Angeles/San Bernardino County Line.
Phase 2 of the project, the North Segment, covers the area from the SR 71/I-10 interchange to Mission Boulevard. Construction is expected to begin next spring, with a completion in spring 2027.
What's Being Built
Thus far, OHLA USA has completed Stage 1 of the roadway jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP) roadway project, which included demolition of existing AC/JPCP, excavation and backfill of base, placement/revisions to existing drainage systems and placement of new JPCP.
"The construction of three of the requisite six retaining walls is ongoing," said Jason Goldsbrough, OHLA's senior project manager. "The three walls are more than 75 percent complete. Also underway is the construction of a double concrete box culvert and shoring for an 800-foot-long single box culvert. Additionally, workers are performing drainage system construction under the highway and alongside the retaining wall. The drainage system work is about 40 percent complete."
Adverse weather impacted the construction site.
A major challenge was performing work while dealing with excessive precipitation — an increase of 200 percent over the norm — proved to be extremely challenging over a four month period from December 2022 to March 2023, Goldsbrough said.
"Teamwork and great cooperation from all project participants enabled OHLA USA to manage this issue. The dry summer allowed the team to make up for any lost time from the winter months of rain," he said.
"The work is progressing well and the project is on schedule and on budget," he added. "It is a tight work zone. To increase safety reliability for all project stakeholders, OHLA USA's General Civil Superintendent Bill Schaible devised the solution to restage work activities to create more workspace along the highway. Once the plan was finalized and presented, we worked with Caltrans to execute this modification, which proved to be quite an accomplishment and an improvement over the original plan. The restaging improves safety for our workers and traffic flow for motorists."
The resequencing of activities resulted in a change of the work schedule from mostly working at night to performing 80 percent of the work during daytime hours.
"We have a lot of talented team members, both within our tradecraft and on our management teams," said Goldsbrough. "Our seasoned crew and OHLA USA project staff work hand-in-hand and are thoroughly supported by our safety and environmental team members."
All existing roadway concrete/AC pavement, median barriers, traffic signage and underground drainage are being demolished.
"This is being replaced with new grading, pavement, signs and drainage," said Goldsbrough. "Earthwork operations will generate approximately 275,000 yards of excavation and backfill."
New concrete lanes are being constructed, along with a concrete/asphalt median.
"Surface drainage for water tied into a new and existing underground system," said Goldsbrough. "The system helps channel rainwater off the roadway to prevent accumulation that could lead to dangerous driving conditions."
The work is equipment-driven, with operators using scrapers, backhoes, excavators and other standard pieces.
The equipment includes two Cat 335 excavators, a hydraulic muncher, a Cat 930 wheel loader, a Cat D6 dozer, Cat 308 and 306 mini-excavators, a John Deere 210L skip loader, an 84-in. roller single drum, three Cat 10k forklifts, a RP moss 450 BH, two walk behinds, a 10K water tower, a radar board, a light plant and a GB 315 excavator.
Goldsbrough's team includes Operations Manager Joseba Obeso, General Superintendent Bill Schaible, Assistant Project Manager Farid Azar, Concrete Structures Superintendent Lalo Romero, Project Engineer Matthew Navar and Safety Director Sean Young.
"The team works together exceptionally well," said Goldsbrough. "Weekly meetings take place that create an environment for sharing ideas to improve operations."
Peak days have 50 plus OHLA and subcontractor personnel on-site. The subcontractors are Aldridge, All American Asphalt, Barney Hole Digging Service, BC Traffic, CGO Construction Company, Condon-Johnson & Associates, Cooper Engineering, Crown Fence, Dees Burke Engineering, Don H. Mahaffey Drilling CO., F3 & Associates, Hot Line Construction, Korpi Cannon Engineering, L. Johnson Construction, Maneri Traffic Control, Marina, Next Century Rebar, RE Mason and the The Quality Firm.
Excavation and demolition activities will generate 19,300 tons of asphalt, 131,900 yds. of concrete and 4,333,700 lbs. of reinforced steel.
"All concrete will be recycled, crushed and screened and will be reused as backfill to avoid waste," said Goldsbrough.
The amounts of new materials that will be brought in have not been finalized.
OHLA takes maintenance seriously.
"Repairs happen all the time and issues are typically handled the same day," said Goldsbrough. "We have an in-house mechanic who is available the same day/night."
OHLA purchases and rents equipment from several California dealerships, including Porter Equipment LLC in Santa Fe Springs; Quinn Company in El Monte; Otay Mesa Sales in Colton; GB Equipment in Riverside; Herc Rentals in Irwindale; and Statewide Traffic in Anaheim.
"All rental companies are super helpful and are very responsive to OHLA USA's needs," said Goldsbrough. "We maintain good relationships with the dealerships primarily through good communication. Whenever there are issues, we are in contact with the dealership immediately."
Project Background
"SR-71 is a major regional highway transportation facility traversing parts of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside County," said Samantha Teves, a Caltrans public information officer, District 7. "It is a connecting link for major east-west corridors passing through the area and serves as an inland passageway for interregional travel between San Diego and the eastern portion of the Los Angeles area. The addition of the HOV lane will ensure that people are moving in a multi-modal way and reduce emissions to tackle climate change.
"With $43 million in SB-1 funding, this addresses a backlog of repairs and upgrades, while ensuring a cleaner and more sustainable travel network for the future," she added. "More importantly, this project commits to the direction of equity and comes with improving and expanding community partnerships, especially in underserved communities. These improvements will restore the facility and improve ride quality by rehabilitating the existing pavement with a pavement structure that will provide a service of 40 years for lane replacement and five to 10 years for slab replacement."
Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, is investing approximately $5 billion per-year to fix roads, freeways and bridges in communities across California, as well as strategically investing in transit.
"To date, Caltrans has completed more than 100 SB 1 highway projects with nearly another 500 projects currently in the works statewide and many more to come after that," states the project web page. "This includes repairing or replacing 115 bridges and paving nearly 1,500 lane miles of the state highway system in the coming years." CEG
Irwin Rapoport
A journalist who started his career at a weekly community newspaper, Irwin Rapoport has written about construction and architecture for more than 15 years, as well as a variety of other subjects, such as recycling, environmental issues, business supply chains, property development, pulp and paper, agriculture, solar power and energy, and education. Getting the story right and illustrating the hard work and professionalism that goes into completing road, bridge, and building projects is important to him. A key element of his construction articles is to provide readers with an opportunity to see how general contractors and departments of transportation complete their projects and address challenges so that lessons learned can be shared with a wider audience.
Rapoport has a BA in History and a Minor in Political Science from Concordia University. His hobbies include hiking, birding, cycling, reading, going to concerts and plays, hanging out with friends and family, and architecture. He is keen to one day write an MA thesis on military and economic planning by the Great Powers prior to the start of the First World War.
Read more from Irwin Rapoport here.
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