County Staff was approached by PG&E with the option to encase electrical facilities within the Orwood Bridge structure during the current bridge replacement work. As this work will require minimal work credits and will not require electrical panel conversions for private property, it does not warrant a public hearing.
The project consists of replacing the existing Orwood Road Bridge located along Orwood Road over Werner Dredger Cut in East Contra Costa County. The proposed project will widen the bridge to meet current American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) standards. The new bridge will be 220 feet long and 43 feet wide. The structure will provide two 12-foot-wide, traffic lanes, two 3-foot-wide shoulders, one 8-foot-wide bicycle / pedestrian lane along the southern edge, a 42-inch high exterior combined vehicle/pedestrian barrier, a 42-inch high interior combined vehicle/bicycle barrier, and a 42-inch high exterior bicycle railing.
The replacement bridge will be constructed within the existing roadway easement. Additional rights, both temporary and permanent, will be required from adjacent parcels for construction and installation of work trestles, grading, scour/erosion protection, wingwalls, retaining walls, drainage improvements, staging areas and driveway connections. Construction of the new bridge is expected to begin June 1, 2015 and be completed in the winter of the following year.
Replacement of the Orwood Road Bridge over Werner Dredger Cut will require removal and relocation of the existing overhead utilities, including PG&E’s electric distribution lines. The future bridge configuration and proximity of the adjacent East Bay Municipal Utility District Mokelumne Aqueducts prevents placement of the overhead utilities along the north edge of the roadway as they are currently configured. A relocation of the overhead facilities to the south edge of the roadway would require additional utility easements and is opposed by the neighboring property owners on both sides of the bridge. Therefore, it was recommended that the most efficient location for the utilities will be in conduits within the bridge structure and in trenches within the roads leading up to the bridge on either side.
Although PG&E is obligated to pay the full cost of relocating their facilities to accommodate the new bridge under the franchise agreement, PG&E is only obligated to relocate facilities to a “like condition” under the public utilities code. In other words, if the pre-project condition is an overhead arrangement, PG&E is only obligated to fund the costs to move the facility to an overhead arrangement in the final improved road facility. Since the underground arrangement is the only feasible option available for the PG&E facilities, the Rule 20A work credits are proposed to fund the increase in cost to relocate utilities underground as compared to the cost for an overhead relocation within the bridge project work area. The estimated increase in cost should not exceed $100,000 in Contra Costa’s Rule 20A work credits.
The project decision to underground the utilities over the bridge structure and within the approach roadways will benefit the County by: avoiding right of way acquisition through private property who are opposed to the placement, allowing the bridge project to move forward as scheduled, and improves safety by avoiding placement of joint poles adjacent to the roadway at the bridge approaches.
Rule 20A Background
PG&E collects and annually allocates Rule 20A work credits to fund the undergrounding of electric facilities in central business and community areas. The County’s current account balance for Rule 20A work credits far exceeds the anticipated cost of our current utility undergrounding project, entitled, Underground Utility District 31 in Bay Point which is currently moving forward and anticipated for construction in 2017.
As the utilization of Rule 20A credits for the Orwood Bridge Project would overall save the County time and money and since the value of work credits needed for the Orwood Road Bridge project account for only approximately one percent of the current balance and only twenty percent of accrued work credits in a single year, it is recommended that the County authorize PG&E to access the County’s work credits, not to exceed $100,000.
The project decision to underground the utilities over the bridge structure will benefit the County by: avoiding right of way acquisition through private property, allowing the bridge project to move forward as scheduled, and improves safety by avoiding placement of joint poles adjacent to the roadway at the bridge approaches.
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