Antonio Parkway Widening from Covenant Hills Drive to Ortega Highway

One particular mile of Antonio Parkway in Orange County was a perennial headache for those forced to traverse it. The road was simply too narrow to accommodate the traffic between Covenant Hills Drive and Ortega Highway. Fortunately, Harris led the way to ensure that congestion would not be an issue for future development.

Thanks to the parkway widening project, people and goods get where they're going faster and easier. Harris & Associates provided construction management and inspection services for this initiative, including:

• Local and arterial highway, bridge and roadway widening
• Environmental restrictions and permits
• Relocation of multiple utilities
• Interchange improvements
• LAPM document control
• Caltrans oversight
• Claim support—including winning the DBR ruling
• Community outreach

Harris saw this project through by working with numerous stakeholders, including County of Orange, Rancho Mission Viejo, Caltrans, CA Department of Fish & Wildlife, AQMD, City of San Juan Capistrano, SDGE, AT&T, COX and SMWD.

Core Elements

The $20+ million federally-funded project included:

• Widening an existing five-span CIP bridge with CIDH and driven pile foundation
• Cement concrete revetment under bridge
• Massive earthwork grading
• Underground storm drain improvements
• Local water district underground water systems and sewer line improvements
• New traffic signals
• Median paving
• Curbs, gutters and sidewalks
• Access road
• Dry utility improvement
• AC pavement
• Striping and signing

Beyond the Blueprints

It took a lot for this project to get moving, like some 200,000 cubic yards of excavation—50,000 of which included structural excavation within the active San Juan Creek. This in itself necessitated a massive dewatering effort, utilizing an active treatment system.

Adding to the complexity of the project was keeping the passage clear during construction. Harris completed a challenging falsework review (working within the county right-of-way) and provided traffic control coordination with Caltrans and the local high school.