The yearslong delay to the Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier project is expected to increase project costs by $23 million.
The board of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District is set to decide on Friday whether to approve a $2 million allocation of reserve funding to cover staffing and administrative costs caused by the delay through the end of the year.
“The contractor building the suicide deterrent net is behind schedule, so we are incurring additional costs for staff time,” said Ewa Bauer-Furbush, bridge district chief engineer, on Thursday. “We’re incredibly disappointed that the project has been delayed and are doing everything we can to move construction forward.”
Originally set for completion in January, the bridge suicide barrier is now set to be completed on Jan. 12, 2023, because of delays announced in late 2019. The district estimates that the delays through the end of the project will add $23.2 million in administrative and consulting costs, for a total estimated cost of $211 million.
The suicide barrier also requires the replacement of the bridge’s maintenance traveler systems that run along the sides and underside of the bridge for inspections and repairs. That portion of the project is expected to be completed in April 2024, more than three years after the original January 2021 date, according to the district.
The delay to the traveler replacement portion of the project is not expected to affect the maintenance of the bridge, according to the district. However, inspections will need to be performed through different access points.
The district awarded a $142 million construction contract in 2017 to Shimmick Construction in a joint venture with the San Francisco-based Danny’s Construction Co. A few months after the contract was awarded, Shimmick Construction was acquired by the multi-national engineering firm AECOM.
Bridge district officials said the AECOM acquisition and other factors led to unexpected delays and misleading assurances of project completion.
The contractors contend the district asked them to do work outside of the project scope and that it has not properly administered the contract. The contractors say the district directed them to apply standards that are inconsistent with state law that increased costs and delayed the project.
“The Shimmick-Danny’s Joint Venture is committed to working with our client to ensure the successful delivery of this important project,” spokesman John Gallagher wrote in a statement. “It was prepared to accelerate the construction of the suicide deterrent and prevention barriers, but the District formally declined to do so.
“The District has directed the Shimmick-Danny’s Joint Venture to perform work outside the requirements of the original contract that has caused delays and increased costs that are currently the subject of a contract dispute.”
Bauer-Furbush told two bridge district committees on Thursday that the contractors’ claims have “no merit.”
“The construction delays were caused through no fault of the district, and we are looking at options for recovering some of the additional cost,” she said after the meeting.
Paul Muller, president of the suicide prevention nonprofit the Bridge Rail Foundation, said advocates of the barrier including families who have lost loved ones to suicide are disheartened by the delay.
“Each month of delay costs lives,” he said. “That’s the horrible truth of all of this.”
Resources: Marin’s suicide prevention and crisis hotline is 415-499-1100. Grief counseling is available at 415-499-1195.
Source: www.mercurynews.com