The Caltrans District 5 South Coast Highway 101 HOV Corridor Improvements project is an $800M multi-year effort to add 10.9 miles of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes in each direction between Carpinteria and Santa Barbara. The project adds HOV lanes and provides safety improvements throughout the corridor. The segments are being delivered through a CMGC contract with overlapping, sequential construction. BKF was selected to provide construction management, construction inspection, and office engineering services for the multiple staged segments of this project.
The project includes widening and replacement of multiple bridges and interchanges/overpasses over US 101, upgrades to more than 10 on- and off-ramps, and reconstruction and extension of portions of the existing Via Real frontage road. The corridor will ultimately accommodate six lanes of traffic and includes additional improvements such as sound walls with architectural treatments and raising the roadway grade by up to 10 feet to improve sight distance.
A significant environmental component influenced the construction schedule, requiring coordination with permit windows and staging milestones. Construction activities were performed around the clock to maintain progress across overlapping segments within an environmentally sensitive area near Carpinteria Creek.
Structure construction elements included cast-in-place and post-tensioned box girder bridges, cast-in-place voided slab bridges, and prestressed/precast girder bridges. Foundations included driven piles, CIDH piles, and concrete piles. The project also included retaining walls, sound walls found on various pile types, reinforced box culverts, overhead sign structures, and concrete barrier rail.
Highway-related work included major earthwork operations, drainage improvements, rapid set lean concrete base and jointed plain concrete pavement, hot mix asphalt paving, continuously reinforced concrete pavement, guardrails, signals and lighting, utility relocations, and traffic control.
Due to concurrent interchange construction projects, BKF provided continuous coordination with the City of Carpinteria and City of Santa Barbara, local agencies, and the public, along with careful management of environmental permitting requirements.
