Motorists will soon have some roadwork to drive carefully through as the County begins a project to replace and upgrade guardrails, with Cambria and Los Osos receiving most of the work.
County Supervisors recently approved the “Metal Beam Guardrail Upgrade Project,” awarding R., Burke Const., of SLO a $792,000 contract to do the work.
Burke was the lowest of two bidders, as C & W Const., came in at $939,000. The engineer’s estimate was $622,000, so Burke’s low bid was actually $172,000 over what the County thought it should cost.
That meant Supervisors had to inflate the project budget by an additional $95,000. Add in another $79,000 in contingency monies and the new budget comes to $872,000.
“The purpose of the proposed project,” reads a report from Project Manager Genaro Diaz, “is to upgrade existing deficient guardrails to current State and Federal safety standards. The standards require a consistent height of the guardrail face to deflect vehicle impacts and energy dissipating end treatments to reduce injuries from a direct collision to the end of a guardrail system.”
The project has three basic goals: install new railings to meet federal standards; install the energy dissipating ends; and, replace rotted wooden posts with new wooden or steel posts.
Money for the project is coming from the Federal Highway Administration’s Highway Safety Improvement Program, essentially gas taxes.
As with the street lighting project recently approved, this guardrail work is part of a multi-year process that is currently budgeted at $1.25 million. Diaz said the bids came in higher than estimated, “due to unanticipated increases in material costs.”
He noted that the County saved money with the Geneseo Low Water Crossing Project and asked that those savings be transferred to the guardrail project.
In Cambria guardrails will be replaced on Charing Lane between Windsor Boulevard and Croyden Lane; at three spots along Moonstone Beach Drive; and on Windsor Boulevard just west of Hwy 1.
Guardrails will be replaced on Los Osos Valley Road east of Los Osos and starting at the intersection with Turri Road. There’s another site down LOVR about half way to Foothill Boulevard and another at Foothill and LOVR.
Another Los Osos site is on Pecho Valley Road just outside the entrance to Montaña de Oro State Park. The railing at South Bay Boulevard and Pismo Avenue will be replaced, as will the railing at South Bay and Yama Lane. The final jobsite in Los Osos is at the tricky, sweeping turn at Ninth Street and Ramona Avenue.
Readers are advised to slow down and be cautious when driving through these job sites and expect delays or closures as directed.
