BUSWAY WOES SEEMINGLY RUN DEEP MTA, CONTRACTOR DISPUTE REASONS FOR CRACKS IN VALLEY LINE'S ROADS.

Byline: SUE DOYLE Staff Writer

Five months before the Orange Line was up and running, stretches of its roadway were found defective, according to a report prepared for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority by a consultant hired to test the pavement after some cracks appeared in May 2005.

Those cracks led to a dispute for the transit agency, which has since discovered more trouble with pavement and has withheld $5.8 million from its contractor until the problems are resolved.

``It wasn't even finished and we saw the cracking,'' Rick Thorpe, MTA's chief capital management officer, said Thursday. ``We didn't know if it was isolated or across the whole line.''

Thorpe said testing will continue today on the 14-mile line's pavement, an interconnected puzzle of base material and varying layers of asphalt, depending on the strength of the soil below. About three miles is rubberized asphalt, installed mainly in residential areas to quiet passing buses.

As part of its contract with the MTA, the Ventura County-based contractor, Shimmick-Obayashi Joint Venture, can offer no comment to the media. Thorpe said the contractor disputes the methodology of the testing.

The construction company's $165 million contract with the MTA for the line includes its pavement, construction, landscaping, lighting and bike path.

Road work began last week on two areas along the bus route east of L.A. Valley College and is expected to be complete next month. One portion, near the 170 Freeway, where soil beneath the line is weak, is being dug up and solidified with layers of sand and gravel.

Meanwhile, rubberized asphalt on the east side is being ground out and replaced with regular asphalt in certain pockets along the bus route because bus tires began squashing into it.

Those problems became noticeable in June in areas where the buses hit their brakes, said Roger Dames, MTA deputy executive officer and project manager.

Doug Carlson, executive director of the Rubber Pavements Association, said he has never heard of problems before with rubberized asphalt and buses sinking into it, known as rutting.

In Arizona, for example, hundreds of city streets are paved with the product and there haven't been problems. He suspected the troubles on the Orange Line stem from the rocks used in its composition.

``I haven't heard of any other pavement problems made of rubber in California having a rutting problem, ever,'' Carlson said.

MTA officials don't know if these repairs are the end of the Orange Line's woes or if there's more to come.

``Is that going to be the total fix? We don't know,'' Thorpe said. ``We're still testing.''

The MTA and its contractor have each set aside $750,000 for the repairs and are splitting the price for now. Both have reserved the right to challenge the costs once they figure out who's to blame. Samples are being taken from the road and dirt to see if problems come from the soil or material used in the asphalt. Results are expected in January.

About 22 buses shuttle commuters during peak hours along the Orange Line, which runs from North Hollywood to Warner Center. It's the first busway the MTA has built and the only one MTA officials know of that uses rubberized asphalt.

Dames said rubberized asphalt is better used on freeways, where traffic usually travels at a constant speed, unlike the Orange Line, where buses stop and go.

Given the chance to use it again, Thorpe was noncommittal.

``The jury is still out,'' he said.

sue.doyle(at)dailynews.com

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