Gerald Desmond Bridge

The new Gerald Desmond Bridge in Long Beach, California, will carry six lanes of traffic from I-710 across the Back Channel to Terminal Island and the Port of Long Beach, one of the world’s busiest shipping ports. The sleek, cable-stayed bridge will replace an existing four-lane bridge built in 1968.

The 1.5-mile span will rise 205 feet above the Port’s Inner Harbor and Back Channel — 50 feet higher than the existing span — to accommodate today’s larger, post-Panamax ships. The new bridge also will include emergency lanes along with bicycle and pedestrian pathways.

With two towers reaching about 50 stories tall, the strikingly designed bridge will be one of the tallest cable-stayed bridges in the United States and the first of its kind in California. Its construction and the subsequent demolition of the existing bridge are key components of a larger, multi-billion capital program to improve and add capacity at the Port of Long Beach, already the second-largest port in the United States.

Brief

HKA is providing a broad range of claims, scheduling, estimating and geotechnical support services for this landmark project. We are delivering these services under a construction management on-call contract with the Port of Long Beach and as a subcontractor to WSP, the project’s Construction Manager.

What we did

HKA’s services include the strategic evaluation of claims processing, claims and schedule analysis, cost analysis, related geotechnical evaluation and dispute strategy. Specifically, we provide on-site forensic schedule evaluation, claims avoidance advice, and project controls support services.

Our team has reviewed and evaluated:

• contemporaneous contractor schedule submittals
• direct-cost claims submitted by the designer on this design-build project
• contractor change order entitlement
• Time Impact Analyses (TIAs) submitted in support of the contractor’s time extension requests.

We are delivering estimating services necessary for the review of an owner-generated change request worth more than $2 million that would replace concrete pavement with asphalt pavement. Our detailed geotechnical analysis concerned a contractor claim regarding cast-in-drilled-hole (CIDH) piles, as well as the impact of various means and methods decisions.

In addition, HKA evaluated the project’s current dispute resolution procedures, analyzed relevant contractual requirements, and developed recommendations for implementing a more effective dispute resolution process.

Outcomes

HKA’s analyses, recommendations and ongoing support have helped to keep this important and highly visible project moving forward, while minimizing costly disputes and preserving collaborative relationships among the project team. The new bridge is scheduled for completion in late 2018, with demolition of the existing bridge scheduled later.