Hwy. 25 bypass construction 75 percent complete
One year after construction on the Hwy. 25 bypass began, the
project that was planned for decades is 75 percent complete.
”
The end’s in sight, I guess,
”
said Mary Dinkuhn, transportation planning manager for the San
Benito County Council of Governments (COG).
”
We’re excited about that and all the benefits it’s going to
bring to the community.
”
Hwy. 25 bypass construction 75 percent complete
One year after construction on the Hwy. 25 bypass began, the project that was planned for decades is 75 percent complete.
“The end’s in sight, I guess,” said Mary Dinkuhn, transportation planning manager for the San Benito County Council of Governments (COG). “We’re excited about that and all the benefits it’s going to bring to the community.”
The bypass should be opened in early fall, Dinkuhn said.
“It changes from week to week,” Dinkuhn said. “Last time I was talking with the engineer, we were talking about early-October.”
COG staff is preparing for work on the bypass that will require a detour around the Sunnyslope Road/Airline Highway intersection, Dinkuhn said, in an e-mail.
Although it was scheduled to begin in May, the detour will not begin until the end of June, at the earliest.
“Signs in the construction area will alert drivers and pedestrian to the date of the intersection closure approximately one week in advance,” Dinkuhn said.
Rob Snyder, a project manager for the pavex construction division of GraniteRock, said the project is just on schedule now.
The project was about four months ahead of schedule, Snyder said.
Discrepancies between the grade of the bypass and existing streets, and utility delays have slowed progress, Snyder said.
“It’s taking us from ahead of schedule status to about on-schedule status,” Snyder said.
The bypass was several inches lower than existing streets at Hillcrest Road, Meridian Street, Santa Ana Road and San Felipe Road, according to a staff report from Dinkuhn.
“The regional survey from this job was done several years ago,” Snyder said. “It has been planned for quite a while. Construction projects never go completely as planned.”
The major delay was due to existing underground utilities, Snyder said.
“Primarily by PG&E,” Snyder said. “The utility companies didn’t move them as fast as everybody thought they would.”
Such problems are not unusual, Snyder said.
“The problems have come at the existing streets, where there are already roads that are there, utilities that are there,” Snyder said. “On every project that’s a problem.”
Five percent of the project’s more than $23 million budget was for contingencies, Dinkuhn said.
“That is kind of a low contingency amount for a project of this size,” Dinkuhn said. “Ten percent would have been more realistic.”
As of May, COG board members approved changes that totaled 104 percent of the total contingencies budget, about $1.2 million
“I mean, the project is safe in terms of funding,” Dinkuhn said. “Right now, just using the project’s budget, it’s showing a balance of about $271,000.”
There are other funds available, Dinkuhn said.
“We have that amount, and we have some additional backup funds that we are hoping to reserve for other projects.”
