Doyle Drive rebuild slated to start early
By: Will Reisman
Examiner Staff Writer
March 24, 2009
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| Leaving The City: Doyle Drive is your ticket out of San Francisco and into Marin County, but it’s seismically unsound. (Examiner file photo) |
SAN FRANCISCO — Design work to rebuild Doyle Drive is speeding up to make it more attractive for federal stimulus funding, with $36 million in county transportation dollars being released today in an effort to start construction on the $1.04 billion project by the end of summer.
Jose Luis Moscovich, executive director of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, said he believes the project could receive up to $100 million in federal stimulus funds.
“We were in Washington recently, and I heard from officials there in such clear terms to ‘make sure our project is ready,’” Moscovich said. “These allocations are ensuring that we are prepared and ready to go.”
Additionally, the California Transportation Commission has announced it will contribute $50 million from the state’s federal stimulus reservoir to the project, which will seismically upgrade the southern approach to the Golden Gate Bridge.
In anticipation of the funding, the County Transportation Authority is increasing the scope of an engineering contract on the project, boosting it from $12 million to $36 million, to help speed up the start of the construction date, Moscovich said.
If the project starts in the fall — earlier than previously anticipated — Doyle Drive could be completely rebuilt by 2012, he said.
The $100 million is federal stimulus funding and money saved in construction costs by the early completion date would make the project essentially fully funded, Moscovich said. Construction was scheduled to start next year.
The $36 million design contract is slated to go toward a joint effort between the engineering and design firms Arup and Parsons-
Brinckerhoff.
The County Transportation Authority will also likely release $2.1 million to the Presidio Trust to cover construction costs for the project.
Doyle Drive has been given a rating of 2 out of 100 by federal officials for its structural sufficiency. The rebuild project is expected to employ as many as 500 people, according to Moscovich.
The road’s unique distinction as part of a state highway in The City that’s abutted by a National Park resulted in debates through the years about what agencies were financially responsible for funding the rebuild.
