Alton Parkway Project Adds Infrastructure

SANTA ANA, CA-Sukut Construction mobilizes to build two projects that will be the $25.5 million final portion of Alton Parkway, a vital link for commercial development and reducing surface road traffic. Santa Ana-based Sukut won an $18.5 million contract in July 2009 from Orange County and a $7 million contract from the City of Lake Forest in September 2010 to construct the last portions of the parkway within each of their jurisdictions. Construction of the final two segments of Alton Parkway will finish a traffic circulation project has been in the making for 30 years. The completed route is expected to take as many as 37,000 cars off local roads by 2025.

Both projects are being constructed simultaneously and together will link Interstate 5 to the 241 Toll Road. Sukut CEO and president Michael Crawford says that the two projects “will close the gap in Alton Parkway, providing a vital link in completing the Orange County arterial highway network."

The completed work will especially have an impact on traffic flow in the cities of Irvine and Lake Forest by providing important traffic relief on Lake Forest Boulevard and Bake Parkway, two major Orange County roadways, Crawford explained. The Alton Parkway expansion will make the Foothill Ranch development and 241 Toll Road easily accessible from western Orange County and will also create access to the Baker Ranch commercial development currently being proposed by Shea Properties, a partner in the project, Crawford said.

Sukut’s contracts call for construction of four lanes of divided highway and grading to accommodate a future expansion to six lanes. A one-mile section of Alton Parkway within city limits will run from Towne Centre Drive to Commercentre Drive, and is expected to be completed in June 2011. At this point, the county takes over to extend construction another 1.1 miles to Irvine Boulevard. The expected completion date for this final portion of the work is set for October 2011. The county contract includes construction of a substantial double reinforced box culvert beneath the roadbed to divert from an existing wash that floods in the winter.

Sukut is California’s largest mass excavation and grading contractor, previously moving 150 million cubic yards of earth a year. It is ranked within the top 400 largest contractors in the nation.