Bay Bridge West Approach Named 2010 Project of the Year

MTC and its Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) branch received the 2010 Project of the Year award for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge West Approach at the California Transportation Foundation’s 21st annual statewide Transportation Awards, or Trannys, distributed at a luncheon today. Co-recipients of the award are Caltrans District 4 and Caltrans Headquarters, Tutor-Saliba Corp., the California Transportation Commission, URS, LAN AECOM and HNTB.

The Skaggs Island Restoration Project, partially funded by BATA, was named as Environmental Enhancement Project of the Year, and Bijan Sartipi, Caltrans District 4 director and MTC commissioner, was recognized for outstanding management and engineering in transportation with the Charles H. Purcell Award.

See below for program descriptions of the award-winners.

The Bay Bridge West approach structure is in the heart of a rapidly growing mixed residential and commercial neighborhood in San Francisco. The seismic retrofit-by-replacement of the one-mile stretch of Interstate 80 — ten lanes of westbound and eastbound roadway and associated off- and on-ramps — had to be done within the footprint of the original structure while not reducing mainline capacity during peak commute periods. This seemingly contradictory mandate had the potential to seriously escalate costs and delay schedules due to the extremely complicated nature of the project, which consisted of six major stages —and multiple phases in each stage — requiring mainline and ramp traffic shifts. Complicating the construction was the fact that portions of the structure are within inches of existing buildings. However, the project partners — Caltrans (under the direction of the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee) and the prime contractor, Tutor-Saliba Corporation — effectively worked together to eliminate significant delays to the project, which was completed seven months ahead of schedule and within its $429 million budget.

The Skaggs Island Restoration Project received an award for Environmental Enhancement Project of the Year. As part of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge East Span project, Caltrans initiated a $15.5 million mitigation package for the protection and enhancement of aquatic habitats. The restoration of Skaggs Island, in Sonoma County, is part of that package. The U.S. Navy began intelligence operations on the island in 1942 and decommissioned the facility in 1993. Since then, the 100-plus empty buildings, containing asbestos and lead paint, have been slowly degrading and increasing the threat of toxic materials entering the Bay.

This extraordinary project to restore Skaggs Island was a result of unparalleled partnership between Caltrans, BATA, the California Transportation Commission, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC). Ultimately, the project required federal legislation to allow the transfer of the former naval station into the San Pablo Bay Wildlife Refuge and to allow the Navy to accept funds from the state for this purpose.

Bijan Sartipi has excelled as an innovative leader and customer-service oriented partner during his tenure at Caltrans. The civil engineer with vision has delivered 100 percent of District 4’s projects scheduled for delivery during the last five years. Last fiscal year, that totaled 44 major projects valued at $691 million.

He has shepherded the construction of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, Bay Area seismic retrofit efforts, and the Devil’s Slide project. New projects include the Caldecott Tunnel Fourth Bore and Doyle Drive Replacement. He’s maximized the use of disadvantaged, veterans, and small business enterprises in state contracts through his development of the Calmentor Conference in 2008, which spurred the Mentor-Protegee program in 2009.

Sartipi partnered with the University of California-Berkeley and private industry to develop intelligent transportation systems technology, such as real-time signs, and also led a variety of publicly applauded emergency repairs, such as those at Interstate 580/MacArthur Maze.

The Benicia-Martinez Bridge Improvements Project was recognized as a finalist for Pedestrian/Bicycle Project of the Year.  This bridge now has two spans — a new bridge to carry northbound traffic only, and the original bridge, converted to southbound traffic and including a new bicycle-pedestrian pathway. The opening of the pedestrian-bicycle path signified completion of the final improvements to the Benicia-Martinez Bridge. It enhances safety and efficiency for bicycles, pedestrians and car traffic across the Carquinez Strait. The class-one bicycle path has architectural surfaces on both sides of the barriers. A special fence was designed and installed with input from local communities and regulatory agencies to complement and improve the aesthetics of the bridge. In addition to improving bicycle commutes, the path has become a frequently used recreational trail and will draw tourists to the area. Participants in the project in addition to Caltrans District 4 and BATA included BCDC, ABAG Bay Trail and the East Bay Bicycle Coalition.

See complete list of CTF awards.