The Griffith Co. expects to be completed by the winter of 2027 with the California Department of Transportation's (Caltrans) $61.15 million Interstate 5 in Castaic Pavement Rehabilitation project it started in May 2024.

Caltrans is rehabilitating a 14-mi. stretch of I-5 in Castaic, an unincorporated community in northwestern Los Angeles, from Lake Hughes Road to Vista del Lago Road. The work includes upgrading the guardrail and installing one new CCTV camera, three Design Pollution Prevention Infiltration Areas (DPPIAs) and two Maintenance Vehicle Pullouts (MVPs).

Griffith Co. photo

"The project is preserving, repairing and extending the service life of the pavement and enhancing ride quality and safety," said Katie Rivera, a Caltrans spokesperson. "MVPs are designated areas adjacent to the shoulder of the freeway that provide a safe space for workers to park, access work sites and perform maintenance tasks without obstructing traffic flow. DPPIAs are used for treating stormwater runoff from roadways and are highly effective at removing sediments, nutrients, pesticides, metals, pathogens and bacteria from the water.

"In 2019, Caltrans reassessed this section of roadway and found it to be in good enough condition that the pavement would not need refurbishing until 2025," she added. "The pavement rehabilitation portion of the original 2022 project was deferred until now."

This segment of I-5 was constructed in 1967, forming a key part of California's transportation network. The stretch carries an average of 197,000 vehicles per day.

Caltrans District 7, specifically the Division of Design B, designed the rehabilitation project.

"The project encountered challenges due to mountainous terrain and rainfall," Rivera said. "These conditions prompted innovative design solutions that ultimately enhanced the resilience and functionality of the freeway rehabilitation effort. The improvements made during this project are expected to extend the pavement's service life by approximately five to 10 years, ensuring safer and smoother travel for motorists."

Caltrans is using durable traffic stripe tape that's 6 and 12 in. wide.

"It's designed to last longer and is placed in grooves in the road for better protection," Rivera said.

This section of I-5 has four lanes in each direction, with shoulders on the outer sides.

The rehabilitation began on the northbound and southbound sides of I-5, starting at the north end.

"We hope to complete the RHMA paving on the north end of the project this season and complete the south end next season when the weather allows," said Eric Eucce, Griffith's project manager.

The work may appear routine, but there are challenges.

"This freeway is very busy with fast traffic," Rivera said. "Crews are working at night, and cold weather makes laying asphalt more difficult. The project is on track — both on schedule and within budget."

Griffith Co. photo

"It's all-night work on a very heavily traveled thoroughfare between the Central Valley and Los Angeles," Eucce said. "We have a subcontracted safety representative on site every shift, lane closures, with attenuators and CHP COZEEP are used to protect the workers in live lane closure situations. K-rail is used to protect the areas where barrier transitions and drainage work is required."

The lanes are mostly asphalt, with a few concrete sections. Crews are grinding off approximately 1 million sq. yds. of old asphalt and laying down around 144,000 tons of new pavement.

"We're paving one lane at a time, working from the shoulder across the lanes ideally in a round robin scenario heading south then north, and working half of the project at a time," Eucce said.

On a nightly basis, during a nine-hour shift, crews can repave approximately 14,000 sq. yds. The mix is a ¾-in. RHMA-G PG64-16.

"We're paving right behind the milling," Eucce said. "One hundred percent of the milling is going back to our plant to be recycled. The milling machine puts the material right into the truck via a belt."

Crews are using two 7-ft. graders running full sensors all the way around.

"It's a seven-sensor system to get a better profile grind," Eucce said, "and then our Roadtec SB-3000 Shuttle Buggy is followed by a Cat 1055 paver and three Cat 64 steel rollers. The shuttle buggy has a pickup head: We're dumping on the road and picking it up."

Eucce hopes to finish the paving by next summer.

Griffith Co. photo

"My working days go to around Christmas time," Eucce said. "My paving window is going to end in a month. Then I'll be able to work on the guard rail replacement, along with the dike and some of the drainage work. Next season, it's really just paving."

The three DPPIA will be installed by Design Build Engineering. That firm will excavate the areas, install the infrastructure and fill in the excavated area.

"I'd like to have it done this winter," Eucce said.

The installation of maintenance vehicle pullout areas will require a bit of paving. Ferreira Construction is removing and replacing the existing guardrail.

"It's a fairly simple operation," Eucce said. "You remove the existing guard rail and install the new guard rail in its place. Ferreira has a machine that drives the posts in the new location, and they bolt the guardrail in the new posts."

Eucce said he has a solid crew under his command.

"This type of work is something we do every day," he said. "We've also had to remove the existing HMA dike along the entire job, which has been a bit of a challenge. We had to alter a Cat 950 loader and a 140H motor grader to remove the dike underneath the 1.5-ft. guardrail.

"We attached the cutting edge, moving it over so the cutting edge sticks out about 2 feet," he said. "We doubled the cutting edges for additional strength, so we're able to blade/knock off the dike and kick it in front of our grinder so that machine can pick it up and put it into a truck. We've done this before, but not on this scale and level. This was a challenge, and we had a couple of different designs for the blade. It took us a week or two to fine-tune it."

The crews, said Eucce, are putting in an "excellent effort. We had a slight personnel turnover in the past year, so we have a mix of veteran operators along with some newer guys that have really pulled together and are working well."

As noted, the crews are working night shifts, which is not easy.

Griffith Co. photo

"Once you get into a flow, that always helps," Eucce said. "Once we get onto a job site and begin a night shift, they stay on it as long as we can. We did have to pull off in the last three weeks for another job, so the transition will be tough, but the routine helps, and they have a sleep pattern. At first, it's rough."

Typical days have a large contingent of Griffith and subcontractor crews on site.

The other subcontractors are: APCO, Bancroft, Cal Stripe, DBE Direct, Dees Burke Engineering Contractors, Design Build Engineering, DRS Rebar, Ferreira Construction, Gallion Sweeping, IPS Grinding & Grooving, Maneri Traffic Control, Pavement Management Solutions, Pavement Recycling Systems and Traffic Loops, Crackfilling.

Approximately 135,000 tons of millings will be produced, and the millings will be recycled at the Griffith Edmonston Pumping Plant Road facility.

New materials used should include approximately 144,000 tons of ¾-in. RHMA-G PG64-16.

Eucce said maintenance on Griffith equipment is a must.

"Any time you are paving this amount of material, you are wearing out paving screeds," he said. "We have already run through one screed and anticipate a couple more before we finish. For our grinders, we are constantly replacing teeth and have been through a few belts already. There are so many trucks needed for every shift; there are always issues with them every night, which is typical."

Mechanics are called in as needed.

Asked what the keys to a solid maintenance plan are, Eucce said: "Fuel and lube everything every day. The entire paving spread gets fueled, lubed and inspected daily."

Griffith buys and rents equipment from dealerships such as Equipment Share Rentals and Quinn Co. CEG