$2.3B In Caltrans Projects Ready To Go To Bid

$2.3B In Caltrans Projects Ready To Go To Bid
By RACHEL RASKIN-ZRIHEN/Times-Herald staff writer
Vallejo Times Herald

About $2.3 billion worth of local Caltrans projects, all 286 slated for this fiscal year, are ready to go to bid, the agency has announced.

Caltrans officials consider it a major accomplishment to have "successfully delivered 100 percent of its scheduled transportation projects on time," according to an agency statement. A long, tedious process precedes sending such projects out to contractors for proposals, said chief engineer Rick Land.

Getting all 286 of this year's projects to the "ready-to-list" point by its self-imposed deadline is a Caltrans milestone, spokesman David Anderson said.

All 12 of Caltrans' district directors signed "Contracts for Delivery" with director Will Kempton to "send a strong signal that the department is prepared to handle the tidal wave of new transportation projects" expected as a result of November 2006 voter approval of a nearly $20 billion transportation bond, Anderson said.

This year's local Caltrans projects prepared for bid include:

• $25 million in ramp paving, barriers and other safety improvements for Interstate 80 in Solano County;

• Nearly $8 million to restore an I-80 rest area in Solano County;

• $8.4 million for construction of a truck climbing lane on Highway 12 in Solano County;

• $3.5 million for re-paving on Highway 29 in Napa County;

• $750,000 for re-paving a portion of Solano County Route 12 ;

• $658,000 for replanting landscaping along part of Highway 29 in Napa County;

• About $500,000 to clear culverts along I-680 in Solano County;

• $1.1 million for congestion-relief measures along I-80 in Solano County;

• $1 million to apply sealant to a bridge deck on Route 12;

• $1.2 million to improve I-680's Lake Herman vista point.

E-mail Rachel Raskin-Zrihen at RachelZ@thnewsnet.com or call 553-6824.