Crossing most of the major North/South freeways and arterial corridors in central Orange County, the SR 22 is a vital California road suffering from poor traffic flow due to increases in population and travel. To remedy this problem, Caltrans accepted a design-build option to rebuild the roadway on October 11, 2001. Included in the construction plans are the SR 22 HOV project, building High Occupancy Vehicle lanes in each direction between the Costa Mesa Freeway and Valley View Street.
Faced with a State budget crisis, Caltrans chose a design-build strategy to construct the project better, faster, and cheaper. This strategy allowed California to move ahead with procurement, and to take advantage of a slowed economy and a weak demand for freeway construction. The Orange County Transportation Authority hired the Parsons Transportation Group (Parsons), Nossaman, Guthner, Knox, & Elliott, LLP, and Cutler & Associates to provide right of way acquisition services, legal services, and project management for the design-build project.
Due to the design-build method of construction, the project is estimated to be completed a full 18-months sooner than traditionally planned and at substantial cost savings.
The project will add a High Occupancy Vehicle lane and an auxiliary lane in each direction, providing increased capacity to the most severely congested stretch of the SR 22. Construction is set to be complete in December of 2007.