Contracting the bike trail repair from the trestle fire to CC Myers is a great idea (would take, what, a couple days?), as is the general concept of providing bonuses when the repairs are needed speedily to ensure public transportation access.
Editorial: A-Maze-ing
Connector reopens after just 26 days
Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, May 30, 2007
When a tanker-truck fire caused the Interstate 580 connector to collapse in early May, some transportation officials feared that it could take months to rebuild this key link of the Bay Area's freeway network.
Yet, amazingly, the MacArthur Maze connector reopened at 8:40 p.m. Thursday after a mere 26 days. Motorists on Friday morning honked their horns in gratitude, apparently stunned -- along with the rest of California -- that a state-financed public works project could be completed in such quick time.
For that, credit goes to a decision by Caltrans and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to provide a financial bonus to the contractor who could reconstruct the connector before a set date. C.C. Myers of Rancho Cordova won the contract and said he'd have the connector open by Memorial Day. Some scoffed, but Myers delivered -- earning a $5 million bonus in the process.
That raises the question of whether bonuses could help speed up other stalled public works projects.
Could there be, perhaps, a bonus to bidders who could quickly repave the bike trail under the (rapidly rebuilt) Union Pacific railroad trestle in Sacramento?
