The Town's planned ribbon cutting on November 16 to celebrate the final repair of the 20-month Rheem sinkhole is meeting with mixed reviews in local forums, along with some sarcasm from @SinkyMcSinkhole on Twitter and a website dedicated solely to whether the sinkhole is fixed yet (a partial screen capture below, for reference).
source: isthemoragasinkholefixedyet.com
Although the Town's stated intent is to thank residents and businesses for their patience, many residents seem to prefer the Town just get on with it, already. Several expressed even greater levels of frustration, stating that a 20-month long sinkhole repair - initially projected to take only 3 months to complete - is being celebrated at all.
To be fair, the sinkhole repair appears to be coming in about 10% under budget, and ultimately will cost the Town a little over $300k when the Fed's emergency funds are received (see endnote).
In somewhat similar news, Claycord reported in its "Look at Us!" article that the County is holding its own ceremony on November 15 for the Alhambra bridge replacement, which was washed out during last winter's storms. The feedback from commenters on that site are almost as "salty" as Moragans'.
We referenced the Alhambra bridge in an earlier article about the Canyon bridge, now expected to cost over $1.2 million more than estimated just 4 months earlier, and noting that the Alhambra estimate vs bid differential was 0% whereas the Canyon Bridge was 60% (see related articles).
What we're wondering...
Does Moraga really have a legitimate fiscal emergency, when the sinkhole will have a net cost of $300k and the bridge a net cost of $400k based on expected 88%+ coverage from the Feds?
The Canyon Bridge and Alhambra Bridge were damaged and repaired during the same time. Why was Moraga's estimate so far off when Alhambra's was not?
What ever happened to the permanent Canyon Bridge that was approved years ago?