You have seen the roadside signs and you may have even seen a few trucks rolling in. Activity is picking up on the three active levee projects in Redwood City affecting Redwood Shores residents. For more information on these projects, below is a complete update from Chu Chang, the Director of Building, Infrastructure and Transportation Department for the City of Redwood City.

Redwood Shores Main Levee: We mobilized on Dec. 23rd as soon as we got words from the resource agencies (BCDC, Fish &Wild life, Army,..) that we have all the permits we needed. Work started on the segment facing the Bay (N. of SBSA) on the 24th and continued on the 26th and 27th. It rained on the 28th causing the site to be muddy and trucks are not able to pass until the afternoon of 29th. Forecast calls for rain again tomorrow which means that we may have to wait until Monday, Jan 4th for the site to be dry enough to move more dirt in to build this segment. During the rain, we are asking the Contractor to prepare the Steinberger Slough side of the levee. The Contractor is prepared to work over this New Year weekend if it does not rain.

San Carlos Airport Segment: A preconstruction meeting was held on the 29th and PAVEX, the Contractor seemed well prepared. They have been working around the airport which gave them the proper training on how to move material and equipment around the runway and taxi ways. Work will start on Monday the 4th. PAVEX has submitted a schedule that shows the completion of this project before the end of January. Rain will not have as much impact to this paved segment as the unpaved portion of the main levee. There will be about 10 nights of night work where the airport will be shut down.

SBSA Segment: Because we have to make last minutes changes to the alignment of this segment to obtain the permits from BCDC and Fish/Wildlife, changes to the design have to be made. After conferencing with SBSA consulting project manager yesterday, directions have been given to the Contractor to order the sheet piles that are not affected by the modifications. The target starting date of installation of these piles is January 11th. Meanwhile, the design consultants will finalize the modified segment so that the installation of those piles can dovetail in the right position with others. If no unforeseen difficulties arise, we should be able to get this work done by the end of January also.

32 days left for us to complete the construction. We are planning to utilize the best of every single day.

— Chu Chang, P.E., LEED AP
— Director
— Building, Infrastructure and Transportation Department
— City of Redwood City