Price tag for new loop road balloons

Deirdre Newman

Work on a road meant to reduce traffic near Newport Coast Elementary

School ballooned 47% over the original bid, extra spending that has

two councilmen concerned.

The road already generated a significant amount of controversy

when residents in the nearby Tesoro gated community threatened a

lawsuit to stop the work.

The City Council closed out the contract Tuesday for work on the

road, which cost about $650,000. But there is still more work to be

done on the project to appease the Tesoro residents, including

landscaping and installing an automatic gate to restrict access. The

council approved a separate contract Tuesday for about $160,000.

As a result, the cost of the project will be about $842,000,

compared to the original bid of about $365,000. The increase happened

mainly because the city rushed to finish the road before school

started, Public Works Director Steve Badum said.

Though that deadline was met, Councilman John Heffernan expressed

dismay at how the project was handled.

“It concerns me when we start at $365,000, and we’re now at

$842,000,” Heffernan said at Tuesday’s council meeting. “If you were

in private business, you’d be out of business.”

The construction is part of an ongoing effort between the city and

the Newport-Mesa Unified School District to alleviate traffic

congestion during the school’s busiest times. Traffic problems have

plagued Newport Coast Elementary since it opened in 2001. The

1,100-foot-long road directs traffic from northbound Newport Coast

Drive around the school’s playground, into the parking lot and out

onto Ridge Park Road during drop-off and pick-up time. It is

otherwise closed.

In June, the council approved the project and voted to award a

contract for about $365,000. But when the city first bid the project,

the design wasn’t finished, Badum said. It also hadn’t received final

approval from the Division of the State Architect, which Councilman

Dick Nichols was concerned about. These factors caused the project’s

cost to soar.

“We knew there were a lot of items we had to add on,” Badum said.

“We had to get the work going. The contractor was telling us if he

didn’t get going immediately, he wouldn’t make the deadline to have

the bulk of the work done before the kids were back in school.”

The cost also jumped because of the city’s effort to placate the

Tesoro community above the school.

Part of the loop road comes close to Tesoro residents’ homes. They

weren’t initially told about the construction plans but worried the

plans would wreck their quality of life because of increased traffic,

noise and pollution once they were told.

At first, Tesoro residents threatened a lawsuit to stop the

project, arguing it didn’t comply with the California Environmental

Quality Act. They decided against legal action because the city was

willing to make changes and because so many parents at the school

wanted the road, Tesoro resident Sean O’Connor said.

The city offered to plant trees to shield their view of the road

and use rubberized asphalt to reduce the noise. City officials

separated this work out from the total project and put it out to

competitive bid, Badum said.

Heffernan criticized spending extra money just to make some

residents feel better.

“The next time we do this, we’re going to buy some plywood and put

up signs that say ‘Loop road coming,’ because I think the last part

of the money we just spent was to pacify people,” Heffernan said.

The enhancements probably would have happened regardless, Badum

said.

“Had we met with [the Tesoro residents] early on, we probably

would have come up with the same improvements,” he said.

Residents hope the extra touches will soften the road’s effect,

O’Connor said.

“We haven’t seen it yet, but hopefully it will go in as it’s been

presented, and if so, it will be a satisfactory solution,” he said.

Work on the enhancements is expected to start in about two weeks,

with the majority of it being done during winter vacation, Badum

said.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers government. She may be reached at (714)

966-4623 or by e-mail at [email protected].