The State Route (SR)-57 & Lambert Road Interchange Improvements (“Project”), Project 7251, was initiated in 1999 between the City of Brea and the State of California Department of Transportation ("Caltrans") to address traffic congestion on
Lambert Road at the SR-57 interchange and at the adjacent intersection of Lambert Road and State College Boulevard.
On June 16, 2015, the City Council approved a Professional Services Agreement ("PSA") with Parsons Transportation Group, Inc. ("Parsons") to complete the "Plans, Specifications, and Estimate Phase" ("PS&E Phase") for the Project in the amount of $3,320,000 with a $100,000 contingency and total PSA amount of $3,420,000. The original scope of work for this PSA was defined to complete the PS&E for the preferred project alternative. In December 2016, the 65% PS&E was completed for the preferred project alternative with some modifications to the design which included additional widening of the existing Lambert Road bridge to accommodate a future Caltrans truck climbing lane. Soon thereafter, the Project was separated into four (4) phases due to construction funding constraints, with the focus on completing the PS&E Phase for the Phase 1 Project. Phase 1 construction would add the northbound loop on-ramp and realign northbound off-ramp and modify the existing northbound on-ramp north of Lambert Road (East of SR-57). PS&E for Phase 1 was completed to 90% in late 2017.
In early 2018, with the award of SB1 funds for project construction, staff recommended completing the final PS&E for the entire project under an accelerated schedule to avoid the possibility of losing SB1 funding if a voter referendum was passed in November 2018. This required considerable additional work with very tight deadlines and required additional resources. At the March 20, 2018 City Council meeting, Council approved Amendment No. 1 to the Parsons’ contract agreement for an additional not-to-exceed fee of $2.15 million. This amended fee would bring the total PSA for the Project to $5.57 million. In August 2018, Parsons delivered the final PS&E for the entire project to Caltrans on time in order to request for the allocation of funding from the California Transportation Commission (CTC) at their October 2018 meeting. At this meeting, the CTC allocated $65.7M to the City of Brea and Caltrans. Caltrans has taken over the project and will oversee the bidding and construction phases.
However, there are still two design items that the City of Brea still needs to address. These involve the re-design of 2 of the soundwalls. One is the wall near the residents along the northbound on-ramp. The other is the proposed soundwall (with transparent glass) that is to be located near the El Torito Restuarant.
Regarding the first wall, you may recall that a noise study was prepared for the project. At the time the original plans were completed, a soundwall height of 12 foot 4 inches was anticipated. However, after Caltrans review and City's request to consider a taller wall, the noise study was revised and a taller wall was determined to be both feasible and reasonable. Shortly thereafter, in September 2018, staff conducted a formal survey and held a meeting with residents adjacent to this proposed wall to get input towards the proposed soundwall heights. The residents overwhelmingly voted for a soundwall height of 16 feet, knowing that in some cases only a 14 foot wall could be built.
Regarding the second wall near the El Torito Restaurant, the property owner requested that the height of the transparent glass within the proposed soundwall be reduced by three feet. This request was made during right-of-way acquisitions negotiations and well after the design plans had been completed.
Since the PS&E has been completed and the project has been advertised for bids, these design changes need to be incorporated into the project by issuance of an addendum to the bid documents. Parsons submitted the attached proposal dated November 26, 2018 in the amount not-to-exceed $507,920 which includes the soundwall redesign ($207,920) and construction support ($300,000), which will allow Parsons to review questions and provide clarifications during the construction phase. Construction support was always anticipated and would be needed with or without the re-design. The high cost of the redesign is primarily due to the need to re-analyze any impacts that the additional weight the soundwall would have on the existing structure. A detailed scope-of-work is attached to the proposed amendment. Staff will closely monitor the fee and hours charged against the redesign to ensure no additional or unnecessary charges are applied. |