Folks may remember that, just under a month ago, a major tanker caught fire, resulting in the collapse of the EB collector overpass feeding I-580 (and Route 24 and I-980, as I recall). At the time, there were predictions that the interchange would be out of commission for multiple months.
Those predictions were wrong. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, contractor C.C.Myers has completed the project — in just 26 days — as I-580 reopened last night at 8:40pm. Myers came in at a low price ($867,075), compared to the Caltrans estimate of $5,200,000,000. Of course, Myers makes a lot more, for he gets $200K/day (up to a maximum of $5 million) for each day he finished before their estimate of 50 days. Translation? That under $900,000 bid, and working around the clock, earned Myers almost $6 million. His expenses were $2.5 million, giving him a tidy profit… which is secondary to Myers, who wanted to show the world the quality of his company!
I think he did, and I think the expense was worth it for the frustrated commuters in the Bay Area. Folks down here in Los Angeles will remember that Myers was the contractor that repaired I-10 very quickly after it collapsed in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.
