Projects

Improving freeway access to fit more tech traffic

CUPERTINO – When a certain larger-than-life Silicon Valley tech company wants to build a spaceship-like office for 13,000 of its employees, the impact will be felt far and wide.

Especially for drivers in the area.

The four-story circular building at the heart of the tech giant’s nearly 176-acre site in Cupertino is expected to draw such an increase in motorists to the Interstate280 corridor near Wolfe Road that the state has required the company to perform a long list of traffic improvements to mitigate the impact.

That’s where Graniterock’s Construction team comes in.

Thanks to estimators Rob Snyder, Matt Crigger, Vicki Narciso and Paul Brizzolara, the team is in the middle of a $17 million project to ease gridlock between Wolfe Road and Lawrence Expressway, including some ancillary streets.

The work, being managed by the team of Terry McIntyre, Griffin Hyde, Jeff Fischer, Ricky Smith and Jose Mascorro, involves widening the off-ramps and on-ramps in both directions and building an auxiliary lane for the southbound off-ramp to Wolfe Road – making it easier for drivers to get on and off the busy freeway.

Other parts of the project include building new retaining walls, sound walls, traffic signals, bridge improvements and adding an extra lane on Calvert Drive.

The project is truly a One Company effort withthe Construction Materials Division providing18,000 tons of asphalt from the Redwood City plant andan estimated 3,500 yards of concrete.

The primary work, which is expected to run until May 2017, is comprised of six work sites within a 1-mile stretch, which requires a tremendous amount of planning and juggling to execute the schedule and stick to the budget.

Six public agencies are overseeing the project – Caltrans, San Jose Public Works Department, Cupertino Public Works, Santa Clara Public Works, Santa Clara Valley Water District and Santa Clara County Roads and Airports Department.

With the group currently involved in 12 separate projects around this development, Terry said, “We don’t have just one job out here. Everyone is working together as a team to constantly swap people, equipment and materials from one location to another. We’re all working together to get this jigsaw puzzle put together.”

A big thanks goes to everyone working hard to make this job a success.

Doug Bailey, Bill Luker, Marc Burrell, Francisco Gomez, George Jeffrey, Darren Shirk andRolando Silva.