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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Declaration 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 No. 25-4882 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 by a four/fifths vote.
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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 June 4, 2024, the City Council approved Resolution No. 24-4745, approving the Capital Improvement Plan Budget for Fiscal Year 2024/25, and the Fiscal Year 2024/25 to 2028/29 Capital Improvement Plan (Vote 5-0).
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 CIP No. 11004 and appropriate $725,000 of Area Drainage Fees (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) and
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).
CITY COUNCIL GOAL
Plan, program and create infrastructure development.
DISCUSSION
On February 6, 2025, the City of Murrieta (City) 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’s 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 California Public Contract Code, allowing staff to negotiate a scope of work and fee with contractors to perform the necessary construction. The scope of work included removing the existing bridge structure, minor grading, and construction of a cast-in-place Reinforced Concrete Box (RCB), concrete wingwalls, rip rap energy dissipators, new pavement section over the RCB, and guardrail. Originally, construction was anticipated to commence within two (2) weeks of award and that it would take three (3) to four (4) weeks to complete.
A resolution was adopted extending the emergency declaration, and on July 1, 2025, a contract was awarded to Murrieta Development Construction to construct the bridge replacement subject to environmental permits and further extend the emergency declaration. However, the emergency permit has not yet been approved by the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), and the RWQCB is requiring a modification to the design of the bridge structure from a box culvert design to a span bridge design which also requires coordination with Western Municipal Water District (WMWD) due to an adjacent waterline that is now impacted. As a result, the emergency declaration now needs to be extended until the final design can be determined.
Initiation of construction of the bridge is pending finalization of the bridge design, coordination with WMWD, and approval of the permits from RWQCB. Once the permits are approved, due to lead times to acquire bridge materials, staff is hopeful that construction will commence in November 2025.
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.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with this item. The additional cost of this project, if there is any, is unknown at this time.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Resolution No. 25-4882
2. Vicinity Map