Georgetown presented more concrete dates regarding the repairs being done on the Austin Avenue vehicle bridge after the contractor, Cekra Inc., mispoured the concrete last year, causing it not to line up with the project schematics.
In late March, the city sent the contractor a notice of default on the project for breach of contract if the issue could not be resolved. The original estimated completion date was April 15, 2026. The current estimated cost to repair the bridge is $12,780,760.
The city’s weekly newsletter stated demolition of the southbound lane bridge decks will begin in early June, with estimated completion in August.
Once that is finished, work will begin on the northbound lane bridge decks. The anticipated traffic switch is set for November.
The city expects to fully complete the bridges and open them to the public in April 2027.
More details
After months of delays on the Austin Avenue bridges project, Georgetown officials told residents at a May 18 town hall that contractors have started work again, but it could take a year until the bridges are fully reopened.
Systems Engineering Director Wes Wright said contractor Cekra Inc. “basically” has to start over.
“Ultimately, we agreed to disagree with the contractor, and council gave a firm direction that the contractor is to remove the deck,” Mr. Wright said. “To the contractors credit, they mobilized immediately, and they are aggressively pursuing demolition on the bridge. They expect that to take about two more months, and they will repour it correctly this time, under additional supervision.”
Further details about the contract dispute with Cekra Inc. couldn’t be discussed, Mr. Wright said, because discussions happened during executive sessions.
“We don’t agree on exactly what happened, but we are instituting measures going forward to make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” he said.
District 6 Council Member Jake French said that, despite resident suggestions to find a new contractor, that route wouldn’t be in residents’ best interest. The “most expensive and slowest way” to build a bridge is to fire one contractor and hire a new one, said Mr. French, who has experience as a senior construction project manager.
“I can say that the problem was identified,” he said. “Could it have been identified quicker? Possibly, but that’s speculative. There was lots of discussion about this, and we decided to stick with the contractor that we had for multiple reasons. Largely because bringing somebody on board and going through a [Request for Proposal] process again, that is not ideal. There’s no assurance of success.”
Council Member Parr assured her constituents that residents will not pay more money for the bridge and the monetary issues will be worked out between the city and contractor.
“I do appreciate everybody’s patience, and I apologize that the bridge is not done yet. It should have been done by now,” Mr. Wright said.
Work on the Austin Avenue pedestrian bridges project, which will be built parallel to the roadway bridges over the San Gabriel River, is not scheduled to start until the roadwork is complete.