City of Pleasant Hill, Buskirk Avenue Widening Phase 2 Street Improvement Project

The completed project transformed this Buskirk corridor to an aesthetically pleasing and safer route to the motoring public and pedestrians. This project had various challenges during construction from the undergrounding of the overhead utilities and the directional boring under the 680 Freeway to continually minimizing impacts to the residents and businesses.   This project realigned and widened Buskirk Avenue from the Crossroads driveway intersection south to the existing Clarie Drive intersection, and constructed a new east-west Buskirk Avenue segment from Clarie Drive to the existing Buskirk Avenue segment along the I-680 freeway. A new free sweeping 90 degree roadway curve was constructed to connect the eastern section of Hookston Road north to the new Buskirk Avenue/Clarie Drive intersection. The project constructed a new traffic signal at the Buskirk Avenue/Clarie Drive intersection, a new traffic signal at the new Buskirk Avenue/Contra Costa Center southwesterly driveway access intersection, traffic calming median island at the free flowing 90 degree Hookston Road curve, and a new private access driveway from the Lockwood business property and Hookston Square along a portion of the existing Hookston Road. All of these elements will improve safety for pedestrians and vehicular traffic. Buskirk Avenue connects Monument Boulevard to the Pleasant Hill BART Station and serves the large volume of Pleasant Hill and Concord commuter traffic using the Pleasant Hill BART Station. Currently, high-demand left turning vehicles create long queues for through traffic, forcing pedestrians and bicyclists to use the existing roadway shoulders. The proposed widening project is the final phase of a two-phased corridor improvement project to increase capacity and improve operations, circulation and pedestrian access by constructing additional travel lanes, improving signalization, alignment and pedestrian facilities. The adjacent segment of Buskirk Avenue to the north was widened through Phase I. Safety – The project’s approach to safety is for every worker to have safety awareness and accountability. Before each day’s work operation begins, the Contractor’s foreman discusses specific operations and any associated hazards. All workers are required to wear safety glasses, hard hat and safety boots. CM team members attend an OSHA HAZWOPER training class annually. We participate in the Contractor’s daily safety tailgate meetings. We review all of the Contractor’s work plans to ensure worker and public safety is not at risk. If required, we make adjustments to the approved work plan when there is a changed condition during the work operations. The City adopts the Caltrans general construction safety requirements into the project special provisions.  Project Fatality:  I verify there were no construction-related fatalities on this project.  Safety Record:   No. of Recordables = 0; Total Man Hours = 22,488; Lost Time Accident Rate = 0