WASHINGTON -- The opening of a new bridge over the American River below
Folsom Dam could be delayed by as much as a year because the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers needs to redo environmental studies to reflect a shifting
flood-control strategy.
The delay means that the four-lane concrete bridge now may not open until December 2008, adding months to the agony of commuters and adjacent neighborhoods since the Bureau of Reclamation closed the Folsom Dam road to public use nearly three years ago because of national security concerns.
"I am extremely mad about this," said Folsom Mayor Steve Miklos. "Our whole city is extremely mad about this."
What's so irksome, Miklos said, is the fact that the delay isn't the result of the bridge's construction, but the location of a quarter mile of road that will feed traffic on and off it from the east.
After he heard about the "unacceptable" delay, Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, summoned top Corps officials to a meeting on Capitol Hill on Thursday and was assured they will do everything they can to keep the bridge opening on schedule.
The meeting was with the Corps' chief of engineers, Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, and Assistant Defense Secretary for Civil Works John Paul Woodley. Also attending was Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's energy and water subcommittee on which Doolittle also sits.
"Representative Doolittle was assured that the American River bridge project was a top priority," said the congressman's spokeswoman, Laura Blackann. She said the officials promised "to do everything in their power to see the bridge completed by the December 2007 deadline."
Rep. Dan. Lungren, R-Gold River, who represents the Folsom area, was not able to attend that meeting. But he said the assurances of Strock and Woodley give him some hope that the project can keep on schedule.
"If I had to pick a couple of people to be on our side, those would be the two," he said. "We just don't understand the reasons for any delay."
Col. Ron Light, district engineer for the Corps' Sacramento office, said it's possible the paperwork can be completed faster than anticipated, but he was making no promises.
Light said the delay is unavoidable as plans firm up for the construction of a second spillway east of Folsom Dam to improve safety and speed the release of water during flood emergencies.
That spillway will be constructed roughly at the location of the current dam overlook parking lot. That spillway will require the Corps to construct the approach to the new bridge farther south than it had planned, and Light said that environmental reports required by the state and federal governments will have to be rewritten to reflect that change.
"No one is happy about this," Light said in a telephone interview. "I understand the effect this will have on those who have to sit in traffic and on the local businesses."
Light said the culprit is the high cost of flood-control work.
One of the major focuses of American River flood control has been the addition and enlargement of release gates at Folsom Dam so that the lake can be more quickly lowered when potentially damaging storms are forecast.
But the cost of those modifications came as much as three times higher than the $200 million estimate. That sent the Corps scurrying for alternatives. The alternative that seems all but certain now is the new spillway that eliminates the need for the Folsom Dam modifications.
"We're trying to get the new bridge done and at the same time get flood control for Sacramento," Light explained. "There have been tensions between the pieces."
Congress, prodded by the Sacramento-area congressional delegation, has been pressuring the Corps to speed the bridge's construction in the aftermath of the dam road's closure, which has jammed commuter routes.
A recently passed spending bill, for example, directed $10 million more at the bridge's construction, bringing the total federal appropriation so far to $15 million. Construction contracts are scheduled to be issued in March 2007, and Light said he expects that milestone to hold.
The cost of the $104 million bridge will be mostly borne by the federal government, with a local share of $22 million.
"We have not been sitting on our hands," Light said.
But he said the reports required by the National Environmental Policy Act had been completed earlier this summer, reflecting the location of the eastern approach closer to the Folsom Lake levees.
Now, with the spillway slated to go in there along with the canal to carry releases to the American River, Light said the road will move farther away from the levee. That, he said, will require redoing the reports.
"Everybody I've talked to is not buying that explanation," said Miklos.
He said the Sacramento office has known since June or July that the spillway was a growing probability, and yet he was assured by top Corps officials in Washington as recently as October that the bridge was on schedule for opening in December 2007, and no later than February 2008.
"What's changed?" Miklos asked. "We are challenging the fact that they have to redo the entire NEPA documents. We think this is another example of incompetence at the local Sacramento office when it comes to NEPA."
