Rain causes delays for San Vicente Road construction
The rainstorms throughout last week forced crews to suspend anticipated construction activities along San Vicente Road, and additional wet weather could cause more delays, according to the county.
“The focus on the job at this time is to ensure safe travel for the public through the construction zone, secure the job area and limit erosion potential,” said Michael Long, county project manager of the San Vicente Road improvements. “These are all aspects of the planned work on a daily basis.”
Drivers can see gravel bags and fiber rolls lining sections of the roadway where there are no K-rails. Long said the contractor, Flatiron West Inc. of San Marcos, has been taking specific measures, anticipating stormwater runoff. That includes spraying hydromulch on bare sloped areas that have the potential for erosion, he said.
With $22 million estimated for construction costs, the three-stage project that began in September 2014 is aimed at improving safety along the main route to the San Diego Country Estates — a stretch that has seen its share of serious accidents over the years, including fatalities.
Long said they still anticipate completing the project by May.
“However, these recent, and potential future, rain impacts could result in some delays to the schedule,” he stated in an email.
The work includes realigning the two-lane roadway to reduce curves and hills, improving motorist line-of-sight, improving the turn lanes at Warnock Drive and Wildcat Canyon Road, adding a new turn lane at Deviney Lane, and adding centerline rumble strips. The project also calls for adding bicycle lanes on both sides of the road and, for equestrians and pedestrians, a 10‐foot stabilized decomposed granite multi‐use pathway on the west and south side of the road and a 10‐foot graded parkway on the north and east side of the road.
Among construction activity in December was continuing such stage 2 work as utility joint trench construction from Chuck Wagon to Wildcat Canyon roads, earthwork from Deviney Lane to a point south of Chuck Wagon Road, storm drainage system construction from Warnock to Wildcat Canyon, a retaining wall south of Deviney Lane, and blasting at the Wildcat Road intersection.
Also last month, the contractor continued work on the Ramona Municipal Water District’s (RMWD) water main to the Estates in the section from Warnock Drive to Bunnie King. The district is required to relocate the pipeline as it was installed in the county right-of-way in 1973 with the caveat that RMWD pay to move it when the county made road improvements. As the water main is nearing its typical life span, according to the district, it is using Flatiron to realign and install a new pipeline to save on costs. RMWD is financing the estimated $5 million pipeline project.
Long said approximately 80 percent of the water main work is constructed.
“Once complete, the main will require testing prior to energizing the new property services,” he said.
Construction activity planned for January includes underground joint utility trench work, storm drain facility installations, water main installations, paving operations, and continued planning and preparation for future potential storm events, said Long.
As to when the project will shift from stage 2 to stage 3, Long said they are assessing that based on impacts from rain delays. There are areas where stage 2 paving has been completed, he noted.
One of those areas is San Vicente Road from Warnock Drive to Gem Lane, which was completed late last year. K-rails, however, are still in place along the west side of the road, where a pathway will be constructed, he said.
“The shift from stage 2 to stage 3 will take place in various locations during the remainder of the project construction with limited impact to the existing traffic patterns,” said Long.
Long said the county and contractor still meet regularly with emergency services including the sheriff’s department, California Highway Patrol and Cal Fire. Such meetings allow the agencies to work together to minimize traffic delays, according to the county. Long said CHP monitors the speed in the construction zone which is 40 mph. Traffic fines are doubled in construction zones.
Before the construction project started, there were concerns by many residents about impacts to traveling or living along that stretch of roadway. To address that, the county set up a project hotline and email, listed on a dedicated website page, www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/dpw/engineering/topprojects/san-vicente-road-improvement.html. Long said aside from working directly with some property owners to address specific property concerns on-site and during construction, no complaints have been received.
“The lack of hotline and email complaints, positive feedback from the (Ramona) community planning group and community members, traffic control working well to minimize delays to the traveling public, the project continuing to be on budget and on schedule, are all lending to a very successful effort in providing a more user friendly and safer stretch of San Vicente Road,” he said.