VENTURA : Purchase of Designs for Retrofitting Urged

Ventura should spend $210,000 on engineers’ designs for retrofitting five street bridges and underpasses, a city staff report says.

The City Council will consider tonight whether to contract for redesign of the San Jon underpass, the Main Street Bridge over the Ventura River, the Seaward Avenue underpass, and the Vista del Mar and Telephone Road overpasses.

The money to pay for the sketches comes from gas taxes reserved for transportation and street improvements, said Rick Raives, a city engineer.

Caltrans has agreed to pay for the seismic retrofitting of all the bridges and underpasses except the Telephone Road overpass, which the agency maintains is not in urgent need of repair.

Staff members recommend that Ventura pay for the redesign sketches because that will speed up the retrofitting process, which could take years if the city waited for Caltrans to find the funds for the engineers’ drawings.

The city is commissioning sketches for the Telephone Road overpass even though Caltrans may not pay for the retrofitting, Raives said. If Caltrans will not fund that improvement, the city might, he said.