La Pata Avenue Extension Project (Bridge)

The $72 million La Pata Avenue Extension Project greatly improves regional mobility in South Orange County by extending La Pata Avenue approximately two miles through the Prima Deschecha Landfill from the Cities of San Juan Capistrano to San Clemente. The extension provides a new direct connection to retail centers, medical facilities, schools, recreational opportunities, emergency evacuation routes, residential communities, the landfill and more. The project accomplishes the following: (1) widens La Pata Avenue from three to five lanes from south of SR-74 in the County of Orange to the existing road terminus at the County’s Prima Deshecha Landfill; (2) implements a gap closure by constructing four new lanes from the existing terminus to the intersection of Calle Saluda and Avenida La Pata in the City of San Clemente; and (3) extends Camino Del Rio as a four lane roadway from its existing terminus in the Forster Ranch community to the new Avenida La Pata. The project also incorporates multimodal components by constructing new Class II Bikeways, pedestrian sidewalks and reestablishes highly trafficked hiking trail connections. The project included millions of cubic yards of earthwork in hillside terrain. Adverse geological conditions included buttress excavations and landside stabilization; removal and relocation of municipal solid waste and constructing clean closure cover over waste remaining in place; two cast-in-place reinforced concrete bridge overcrossings; five 30 foot diameter corrugated structural steel plate undercrossings; preservation and removal of archaeological /paleontological finds encountered during grading; relocation/replacement electrical transmission and distribution utilities linking San Diego and Orange Counties; installation of reinforced concrete pipe storm drains and culverts; installation of six multipurpose water quality treatment/flood detention basins; one new traffic signal, two signal modifications and reconfiguration of an existing intersection; implementation of environmental mitigation measures; installation of new sidewalks and bikeways; construction phasing and temporary traffic handling. This being the County’s most ambitious and expensive capital improvement project to date, required strategic budgeting techniques and forethought. The County developed an innovative finance plan that allowed for the project’s construction amidst falling gas tax revenue, while maintaining sufficient capital budget without delaying other programmed capital improvements projects.

Application_2017_LaPataExtension_final
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