TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: Bob Moehling, Public Works Director
PREPARED BY: Jeff Hitch, City Engineer
SUBJECT:
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Finding that Emergency Conditions Persist in Connection with the Hayes Avenue Bridge at Miller Canyon Creek
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RECOMMENDATION
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Adopt Resolution 25-4891 entitled: A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Murrieta, California, Declaring that Emergency Conditions Persist in Connection with the Hayes Avenue Bridge at Miller Canyon Creek.
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PRIOR ACTION/VOTE
On June 20, 2023, the City Council authorized an on-call consulting services Agreement with Michael Baker International, Inc. for civil engineering services (Vote: 4-0).
On March 18, 2025, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 25-4816, declaring an emergency condition for the Hayes Avenue Bridge at Miller Canyon Creek, authorizing a purchase order for Michael Baker International in the amount of $89,580.92, and amending the Capital Improvement Plan budget to create the Hayes Avenue Bridge at Miller Canyon Creek Project Capital Improvement Plan No. 11004 and appropriate $725,000 of Area Drainage Fees (Vote: 5-0).
On June 3, 2025, the City Council approved Resolution No. 25-4836, approving the Capital Improvement Plan Budget for Fiscal Year 2025/26, and the Fiscal Year 2025/26 to 2029/30 Capital Improvement Plan (Vote: 5-0).
On June 17, 2025, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 25-4847, declaring that Emergency Conditions persist in connection with the Hayes Avenue Bridge at Miller Canyon Creek (Vote: 5-0).
On July 1, 2025, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 25-4863, declaring that Emergency Conditions persist, appropriating funding, and approving the execution of a contract for reconstruction of the Hayes Avenue Bridge at Miller Canyon Creek (Vote: 4-0).
On August 19, 2025, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 25-4882, declaring that Emergency Conditions persist in connection with the Hayes Avenue Bridge at Miller Canyon Creek (Vote: 5-0).
CITY COUNCIL GOAL
Plan, program and create infrastructure development.
DISCUSSION
On February 6, 2025, staff encountered a pothole in the deck of the Hayes Avenue Bridge crossing Miller Canyon Creek, located generally between Ivy Street and B Street. Upon this discovery, Engineering staff believed the bridge could be unsafe and closed the bridge until further evaluation could be completed.
Michael Baker International (MBI) was contracted using the City of Murrieta’s (City) existing on-call agreement to perform a structural evaluation of the bridge. The evaluation was performed, and a report was generated and provided to the City. The report concluded that the bridge is structurally deficient for fire truck access and needs to be replaced. The bridge has a span that is 15-feet long, is 24-feet wide, and has concrete abutments with wooden girders and decking covered with asphalt concrete. MBI subsequently provided the City with a proposal to provide environmental and engineering services for engineering plans and emergency environmental permits necessary to replace the bridge with an alternate reinforced concrete box culvert. Environmental and engineering design has since been completed, and the permit documents are ready to be submitted once a contractor is ready to commence work.
The adoption of an emergency declaration on March 18, 2025, allowed for emergency permitting as well as foregoing the normal public works bidding requirements pursuant to the Public Contract Code. Staff negotiated a scope and fee with a contractor to perform the construction. The agreed-upon scope of work consisted of removing the existing bridge structure, minor grading, and construction of a cast-in-place Reinforced Concrete Box (RCB), concrete wingwalls, rip-rap energy dissipators, a new pavement section over the RCB, and a guardrail. Construction was anticipated to commence within two (2) weeks of award and was planned to take three (3) to four (4) weeks to complete.
On June 17, 2025, a resolution was adopted extending the emergency declaration. On July 1, 2025, a contract was awarded to Murrieta Development Construction to construct the bridge replacement, subject to environmental permits and further extending the emergency declaration. The emergency declaration was extended again by resolution on August 19, 2025. The emergency permit has not yet been approved by the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), and now, the RWQCB is requiring a modification to the design of the bridge structure from a box culvert design to a span bridge design. As a result, the emergency declaration now needs to be extended until the final design can be determined.
The emergency conditions will remain until the bridge has been repaired. Under the California Public Contract Code, the City Council is required to periodically review whether the emergency conditions have abated and/or continue as well as to adopt a resolution by a four-fifths vote to confirm the continuation of the emergency or to declare the emergency to be concluded. Hence, staff requests that the City Council adopt the attached Resolution to find that the emergency conditions remain.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with this item.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Resolution No. 25-4891
2. Vicinity Map