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A year ago this April, Caltrans held a groundbreaking ceremony for a $102 million, six-mile HOV (high-occupancy, or carpool) lane project on the Ventura Freeway (U.S. 101) in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

The project was warmly received by elected officials, community members and county government representatives as the first carpool lane on U.S. 101 in both counties as well as in all of southern California. It also has the support of cyclists, who are eagerly awaiting a new bike route that is part of the design.

A lot has changed in a year, as motorists have observed and a recent discussion with Resident Engineer Hector Arroyo and Construction Senior Jim Riley has confirmed.

Stage One of construction has been completed. It involved: building the median retaining wall and barrier; paving the northbound and southbound U.S. 101 carpool median; widening the Bates Road overcrossing; placing temporary median pavement for lane reconfiguration; beginning work on the La Conchita pedestrian undercrossing that will continue into subsequent phases.

The current stage continues constructing median barriers and retaining walls as well as paving the freeway. “The next big thing,” according to Arroyo, “is the final paving in Ventura County, at which point the contractor will shift K-rail to that location.”

Stage Three involves widening the southbound outside shoulder and roadway, constructing the southbound retaining walls and soundwalls and starting construction on the bike path, one of the most exciting features of the project.

“It’s a two-way bike path that’s separated by barriers from the motoring public, so it provides a real sense of security,” said Riley. The new bike route is expected to encourage increased riding, especially by families.

The final stage will widen the outside shoulders and roadway and then – voila! – a shiny, new multi-passenger option will be available to motorists that eventually will link to another 10.9-mile HOV lane extending to Sycamore Creek in the city of Santa Barbara.

Currently in the environmental phase, that project is expected to begin construction in 2016.

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On the afternoon of Sunday, December 23, 2012, when many people were finishing up last-minute Christmas shopping or spending time with their families, Resident Engineer Vladimir Gurfinkel was out on the new I-5/SR-14 direct HOV (high occupancy vehicle) connector, a structure so close to completion you could almost hear the traffic on it. Temperatures had hit record lows, a frigid wind had picked up, and the threat of another rain storm loomed. 

But this was no time to retreat to the construction office. This was crunch time, time to do final inspections of signage and striping and reflectors, time to scrutinize every inch of the structure. The entire project was still months away from completion, but Vladimir and the rest of the construction team, including Senior RE Fred Young, were pushing hard to get this vital piece of it — the highly anticipated HOV connector — open before Christmas.

A couple weeks later, on January 11, 2013, Caltrans marked the opening of the connector with an official ribbon-cutting event attended by elected officials, representatives from transportation agencies, Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty, and local media.

“We wanted to open the connector in time for Christmas and New Year’s travel,” said Gurfinkel. “The opening date was not specified or stipulated by the contract. Caltrans and the contractors [MCM Construction and Security Paving, a Joint Venture] partnered up and worked around the clock in difficult weather conditions to get it done. We opened the connector on December 23, just in time for the holidays.

The new connector enables motorists in the carpool lane to transfer between I-5 and SR-14 without leaving the carpool lane. Benefits include improved safety, reduced congestion and better air quality. It also brings Caltrans one step closer to creating a seamless carpool lane system in District 7, which is sorely needed, given that 354,000 motorists use the interchange every day.

But that dry, fact-sheet description doesn’t begin to capture the ‘wow’ factor. The HOV connector is 15 stories tall, nine football fields long, and arcs so gracefully and seemingly effortlessly it’s hard to believe it’s made of thousands of tons of concrete and steel. Stand beneath it beside the massive supporting columns and look up, and even if you have no mathematical aptitude and failed high school physics, you suddenly want to be an engineer. But getting to this point was no easy feat.

The project went through a rough patch early on when work first began in the summer of 2008. Caltrans and the contractors were learning how to work together, and suffice it to say, there were some issues that needed to be addressed before an effective partnership could emerge.

"We were committed to understanding each other’s issues and resolving them at the lowest possible level,” said Gurfinkel. “That allowed for a complete and successful resolution of all issues, and we were able to get back on track and build an outstanding partnership.”

That strong partnership was crucial in meeting the many challenges the construction team would face. If you were looking for a miserable place to build a towering concrete structure, you couldn’t do much better than the I-5/SR-14 connector location. It’s smack dab in the middle of the Newhall wind tunnel, next to a railroad, in an environmentally sensitivity area, plagued by problematic access, and over I-5 — the backbone of the state’s freeway system — which meant closure windows were very tight.

And then there was (surprise!) soil contamination caused by naturally occurring oil. It wasn’t completely unexpected — Caltrans knew about low-level contamination that required no action. But the hillside had a dirty little secret. As excavation progressed, it quickly became clear that the problem was worse than anticipated, a change order in the making. The contaminated soil had to be safely disposed of, air quality monitored, and additional funding secured.

Crews are currently finishing up the final details: striping, signage, drainage and some electrical work. The project is scheduled to wrap up in May (though possible change orders may require a bit more time). After five years in construction, this vital link in Southern California’s transportation infrastructure will serve Californians for generations to come — thanks in large part to the efforts of a construction team that embraced every challenge they encountered and found a way forward.

Eventually, the contamination challenge, like all the others this project hurled nonstop at construction staff, was overcome and the team forged ahead, building not only the connector, but multiple other improvements as well. The project also added 1.8 miles of 24/7 HOV lanes (for two-person-plus carpools) to the interchange area; constructed major (and pretty amazing) retaining walls; and widened the West Sylmar overhead bridge, the Sierra Highway undercrossing, the southbound I-5 truck route undercrossing, and the mixed-flow connectors between I-5 and SR-14.

On an unseasonably warm day in March, about 40 people — Caltrans staff and contractors — and numerous construction vehicles were gathered on a coned-off section of westbound I-210 just east of SR-2 for a pavement demo. But this wasn’t just any pavement demo. Three broken concrete slabs were about to be repaired using an innovative new strategy developed by Caltrans Maintenance staff and an enterprising small business contractor. Up to this point, only a small group of people had ever seen this done. An even smaller group understood how it worked. That was about to change.

More on the demo in a minute. First, some background. There are two basic methods to replace broken concrete freeway slabs: cast-in-place (usually using rapid-strength concrete) and precast concrete panels. As the name suggests, with cast-in-place repairs, the broken slab is removed and concrete is pumped into the roadway cavity. With precast concrete, the panels are cast and cured at a fabrication facility and then placed at the repair location.

District Materials Engineer Kirsten Stahl has been advocating for the use of precast panels as an emergency maintenance strategy since 2001.

“When a slab breaks up on a high-traffic freeway, we need to be able to fix it fast,” said Stahl, who provided invaluable support in developing base specifications for the panel design used in the I-210 demo. “If we have these panels stored at a maintenance yard nearby, we can drop them in and open to traffic an hour later.”

Precast panel repairs initially are more expensive than cast-in-place, but they’re also more durable, which means they’re cheaper in the long run and require fewer maintenance closures. The dicey part of working with precast panels is the installation. Grinding and leveling the panels can be difficult and time-consuming. But that’s changing, thanks to Maintenance Design Manager Debbie Wong,* Maintenance Area Superintendent Ed Toledo, Baltazar Siqueiros of Baltazar Construction, and Stahl. Working together, they’ve developed a better way to install precast concrete panels.

The Wong/Toledo/Siqueiros/Stahl strategy was inspired by slow, tedious slab replacements in Toledo’s area, requiring lengthy closures and sometimes resulting in failed panels. The key to the new strategy is a clever piece of hardware, a leveling lift, that Siqueiros developed. The leveling lift allows panels to be installed quickly and relatively easily without extensive grinding. Essentially, it allows the panel to be raised up and down using a screw-like mechanism.

Wong made some modifications to the hardware and panel design, and then, after getting approval from Deputy District Director of Maintenance Dan Freeman, it was time to road test it. The first batch of panels using the new system was installed on westbound I-210 during a miserable weekend in November 2012.

“It was cold and raining — probably the worst possible conditions for a test run,” said Wong. “But we figured if we could make it work here, it would work anywhere.”

And it did work — quite well, in fact. Despite some equipment issues, the hardware functioned as intended and the work proceeded quickly. Wong said crews installing panels without a leveling lift can typically complete 124 feet of repairs in a night. With the leveling lift, they can do 500 feet.

With the first successful installation under their belts, crews installed another 40 panels in eight hours on northbound I-5 near Lake Hughes Drive and 40 more on I-210 near Lake Avenue. Which brings us to the I-210 demo project in March. With the strategy working so well, it was time for show and tell. Wong invited contractors and Caltrans staff (including folks from District 12) out to I-210 to see exactly how to install a precast panel with a leveling lift. Up to this point, only Baltazar Construction knew how to do it; other contractors needed to learn the technique.

So how, exactly, does it work? With apologies to engineers and the technically inclined, here’s How to Install Precast Concrete Panels with Leveling Lifts in Six EZ Steps:

Step 1: Mark and measure the precast panel layout. Cut the damaged slab into chunks, which will then be lifted out of the roadbed. In the video below, this process looks like removing big, concrete brownies from a pan.

Step 2: Grind the roadbed so it’s a bit deeper than the thickness of the panel, which in this case, was 8.5 inches. Clean up debris.

Step 3: Lay thick plastic sheeting in the cavity, kiddie-pool style. This will keep the grout from oozing into places where grout shouldn’t ooze.

Step 4: Using a crane, place the concrete panel in the excavation (the hole in the roadway). The panels and excavation can be trimmed to fit before placing them, if necessary.

Step 5: Level the panel so it’s even with neighboring slabs by adjusting the leveling screws in the corners. This is sort of like leveling a tripod by adjusting the height of the legs.

Step 6: Pump rapid-setting, self-leveling grout under the panel and — ta-da! — open to traffic. The dowel bars that fit into the dowel joints connecting the panels can be installed up to 48 hours later, if necessary.

The steps listed above are, of course, an oversimplification, but installing concrete panels using this method is considerably simpler than the standard method.

“Since we can cut the excavation to fit the panel, level the panel with screws, and grout it to achieve the necessary depth, we don’t need surveys,” said Wong. “It’s a huge time savings. We can close the lane, install the panel and reopen to traffic all within three hours.”

Not only do the panels install quickly and thereby minimize closures and exposure of crews to live traffic, they can also be removed and reused somewhere else. Additionally, they can be installed in any weather and they last a long time.

“We know we won’t have to go back out and replace them in year or two,” said Toledo. “These panels can last 50 years. They’ve got a much longer life-cycle than any cast-in-place solution.”

After the demo on I-210, a second demo was performed in District 8 a week later, followed by installation of another 28 panels on northbound I-405 near LAX.

Panels continue to be placed using the leveling lift system while the team perfects the process. (A patent is pending.) Leveling lift installation is not yet widely used by Caltrans, but if the panels that have been installed so far hold up well, it could be. It could be because innovative, committed Caltrans employees working with an excellent contractor knew they could improve upon a standard practice, and then they put in the time an effort to actually do it. There are now hundreds of panels on District 7 freeways testifying to their ingenuity, and by the looks of it, many more to come.

*Debbie Wong is currently District Claims Engineer, but still assists Maintenance with special projects.

This story is not about construction work; it's about people working together. Many people - from all different backgrounds and perspectives - are working collaboratively and with a spirit of partnership to get the I-5 South Corridor Improvement Projects in southern Los Angeles County started and completed on-time, within budget and with minimal impacts to communities, residents, businesses and motorists.

The $1.6 billion Santa Ana Freeway (I-5) South Corridor Improvement Projects, six segments that extend from the Los Angeles/Orange County line to the San Gabriel River Freeway (I-605), will widen I-5 to add one carpool lane and one general purpose lane in Norwalk, Santa Fe Springs, La Mirada and Downey. Four of the six projects are in construction and cranes, k-rail and pile driving equipment are set-up along this seven-mile corridor.

When an aging, well-traveled, three-lane freeway has seen no improvements since it was built in the mid-1950s, there's intense work to be done. During five decades, businesses and homes have moved closer to the freeway and telephone poles are sharing its space with other cell and cable company lines. Growing populations and new technology have brought more electricity, sewer, water, fiber optic and cellular lines and transmission lines above ground and underground sewer, water, gas and oil lines lie alongside the freeway.

The first order of business for any project is to acquire or possess property so that utility relocations can get started. To do that, you have to identify the utilities, meet with their owners and arrival of a relocation plan.

"Relocation of facilities wouldn’t be possible without the on-going communication and coordination with the utility owners, their staff and their contractors," said Suzie Kearns, Caltrans District 7 Utility Designer.

Caltrans surveyors and designers partner with utility crews to clear the way to allow construction to begin. Chevron Pipeline, Southern California Edison, Time Warner, Verizon, SoCal Gas, Charter, and more companies, have been working above and below ground since early 2012 to move their utility lines so that work can begin for the Carmenita Road, Alondra Boulevard, Rosecrans Boulevard, Imperial Highway projects.

In a different kind of relocation, a team of professional animal handlers and staff from the City of Norwalk Recreation and Park Services Department, transferred alpacas, goats, roosters, rabbits, sheep, a pony, two heifers, one donkey and an emu from the city's Nature Center petting zoo to the prestigious California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. Caltrans will support the cost to board, feed and provide veterinary care for the animals during the freeway project at a farm overseen by their Animal and Veterinary Sciences Department.

"I'll never forget this relocation assignment," said Sinead Gross, the Caltrans Right of Way agent who facilitated the move. "It was one of a kind and I'm grateful to have had this experience to work with so many great people who care deeply for the animals and their well-being."

There's also consideration for the well-being of the children. The La Mirada-Norwalk Unified School District transports 4,000 children to and from school daily with scores of school buses that traverse the Shoemaker Avenue and the Alondra Boulevard bridges. When the Carmenita Road Project began construction in early 2012, Caltrans, city and school officials met to coordinate school and construction schedules and to identify core locations that will require a change in the school bus routes and relocation of some bus stops. The overall goal for both agencies was to get the children to and from school safely and on time. This partnership will remain in effect throughout the life of the I-5 South Corridor Projects.

Many city employees are involved and motivated to inform their citizens of closures, detours and impacts - like daytime dust and nighttime noise. At the forefront are the city engineers from the cities of Norwalk and Santa Fe Springs who attend up to four weekly construction meetings (one for each project) to mitigate and minimize the potential impacts. On the flip side, the city staff communicates to the group about on-going or upcoming city-related public works projects that could potentially coincide with freeway-related work, like for paving projects or traffic signal timing issues, for example.

City Engineer Daniel Garcia; Associate Engineer, Randy Hillman, from the City of Norwalk Community Development Department (CDD); and Noe Negrete, Robert Garcia and Frank Beach from the City of Santa Fe Springs Public Works Department are a huge part of the I-5 South Corridor Improvement Project's successful partnership efforts.

"Mitigation efforts help to expedite construction schedules and ensure that city, state and county public works projects do not conflict to cause unnecessary delays," said Garcia. "Issuing permits to contractors and utility companies, reviewing traffic flow, minimizing lane and ramp closures, and monitoring signal timing and signage on city streets helps to keep everybody and everything moving safely in the right direction."

These are the people at work to extend the spirit of partnership and keep the lines of communication open. There would be no successful construction project without them.

Marcus Atkins, District 7's Facilities Resource Coordinator, will be honored by the City of Los Angeles on April 12 for providing good customer service to the city during their use of the district office's conference rooms on various occasions in 2012.

"I was just doing my job and being a good neighbor," said Marcus, an associate governmental program analyst in the district's Facility Operations unit, part of the Office of Business Management and Administration Division.

In his job, Atkins' coordinates the facilities operations budget and monitors the Department of General Services expenses for the District 7 Headquarters Building. He also coordinates conference room reservations, room set up and accommodates any equipment needs.

The recognition comes from the city's Dispute Resolution Program, a unit of the City Attorney's Office, that offers free, quick and easy mediation - performed by volunteers - to its citizens for any issue they deem necessary. The city reserved the meeting rooms several times to train 30 to 60 volunteers at each occasion on its dispute resolution program. Caltrans District 7 offers the meeting rooms at no charge to other government agencies and transportation partners.

Atkins will accept his well-deserved a Certificate of Appreciation award during the City of Los Angeles 9th Annual Mediation Awareness Week & Appreciation Luncheon, in support of the Los Angeles City Council. Atkins will escort his wife, Shaliah, and his manager Carmen Roberts, Facility Operations, to the event.

 "Marcus was selected for this honor because of his service to the Dispute Resolution Program, as well as his ability to make a difference in the lives of the many people he touched through his customer service," said Maria Garcia of the City of Los Angeles Dispute Resolution Program.

"This recognition for Marcus is well-deserved," said Roberts.

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On January 8, 2013, the world got its first look at the height of the new Gerald Desmond Bridge towers.

In a dramatic display at a Port of Long Beach groundbreaking ceremony, two helicopters hovered 515 feet above the crowd to illustrate just how tall the bridge will be. The twin 50-story high towers will make the new bridge one of the tallest cable-stayed bridges in the U.S. and the first of its kind in California. The new bridge will raise the clearance over the channel from 155 feet to 200 feet, allowing the world's largest ships and their descendents for generations to come to enter the Port's inner harbor, something the current bridge cannot accommodate.

The $1 billion bridge replacement project is a joint effort of Caltrans and the Port of Long Beach with funding also from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 

Speaking at the ceremony, Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty said that “the new bridge will be a monument to the power of partnerships. Everyone stepped up to the plate to make this a reality – the state, the port, the federal government, the local transportation agency and the construction industry.”

Caltrans is contributing $500,000, with $300,000 coming from the U.S. Department of Transportation, $114 million from the Port of Long Beach and $28 million from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 

This project will ease congestion and improve safety on a structure that currently has nearly 70,000 vehicles a day going over it and about 15 percent of the nation’s waterborne cargo traveling under it, he added.  

“Caltrans is particularly interested in another element of this project—the fact that it’s being designed and constructed simultaneously,” Dougherty said, adding that the design-build construction method allows for greater flexibility and will speed up the construction timeline. 

The Gerald Desmond Bridge, which opened in 1968, provides a critical link from Terminal Island and the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to downtown Long Beach and the Long Beach Freeway (I-710).

Other features of the new bridge include a bike path, pedestrian path and scenic observation decks 200 feet above the water. Construction costs will be about $650 million, with site preparation, demolition of the existing bridge and other aspects bringing the total project to $1 billion.

Although there is a lot of activity occurring at the bridge construction site now, it is largely still preliminary, involving the capping or relocating  of nearly three dozen active oil production wells and moving related infrastructure and utilities to make way for the new bridge.  This has been a massive, two-year effort as the Port of Long Beach is located directly over the Wilmington Oil Field, one of the nation’s largest at the time of its discovery in the 1930s. 

Meanwhile, the design/build contractor SFI (a consortium of Shimmick Construction Co., Inc., FCC Construction S.A. and Impregilo S.p.A.) has been conducting pile tests in the areas of the west and east approaches, among other testing.  The nearly 8,000-foot new bridge will include at least 300 below-ground piles that will support more than 70 columns holding up the two approaches.  

Public Information Officers’ (PIOs) and Public Affairs Officers’ (PAOs) duties are almost indistinguishable from one another, but they work as an efficient team to educate and inform the public and stakeholders, and manage Caltrans’ image. Whether developing public outreach campaigns, attending construction meetings, working with local representatives, hosting international visitors, organizing ground breakings or grand openings, or working with the media, this unit is ready. willing and able..

Media Relations

It's 10 a.m. on what appeared to be a slow day at the office. The phone rings and it’s a Los Angeles Times reporter who wants to know how much Caltrans has spent on right-of-way purchases for the I-405 Improvement Project. Another reporter is accusing the department of hiding information about stolen palm trees. On another day, a fuel tanker catches fire under an overcrossing in Montebello, requiring the closure of the Pomona Freeway (SR-60) from I-710 to I-605. There are dozens of reporters on scene who need to talk to someone from Caltrans. Who will speak to the reporters and prepare executive staff for media interviews? It is District 7’s PIOs who are ready and trained to handle such requests. If you receive a media call, don’t worry or feel pressured; just forward the reporter to Media Relations (it’s not only a good idea, it is Caltrans Deputy Directive-19-R2).

“Working with the media takes skill, patience, and tact to be able to gather information, help reporters fulfill their requests, and ensure that Caltrans is represented well,” said Media Relations and Public Affairs Office Chief Lauren Wonder, a 12-year Caltrans employee. “Speaking in front of the camera, writing talking points or speeches, or working with the very aggressive Los Angeles media market is challenging and exciting, but it isn’t for everyone.”

Throughout the week various media inquiries may occur, some complex or simple, and the PIOs will seek out information from any division or individual. Also, PIOs Kelly Markham, Judy Gish, Maria Raptis, and I write Inside 7, so you may hear from us if we are writing a story about a project, your division, or you.

Public Affairs

Although they do not generally interact with the media, much like PIOs, they work closely with construction and project management staff on pending and active projects throughout the district.
“Working directly with the public is a challenging but satisfying part of a PAOs job,” said Public Affairs Manager Dave White. “Trying to manage the demands of the public and local representatives requires a high level of diplomacy and perseverance.”

For instance, PAO Yessica Jovel regularly attends construction meetings for the I-10/I-605 Interchange Improvement Project in Baldwin Park. PAO Peter Jones meets with project staff for the I-10/I-110 Interchange Improvement Project. PAOs much like PIOs plan project ground breakings or openings. Both PAOs are essential in the department’s efforts to keep motorists, residents, media outlets, and local representatives aware of what Caltrans activities are occurring in communities throughout the district.

Occasionally a PAO will step into the PIO role to help out.

Jovel, who is a fluent Spanish speaker, has handled several media interviews with local Spanish language channels. Jovel has used her language skills to extend the department’s outreach about our Slow For Cone Zone and Move Over safety campaigns, and Workers’ Memorial.

Jones has not had the opportunity to be interviewed on camera, but he has used his cultural skills to represent Caltrans well during visits by guests from around the world at the Los Angeles Regional Traffic Management Center. Most recently Jones spoke to group from the United Arab Emirates.

Jovel and Jones head up our outreach and education program. Jovel has organized school visits by our maintenance crews and rideshare fairs at several corporations, cities, and colleges in Los Angeles. Jones, although relatively new to the unit, coordinates the annual Highway Safety Poster Contest.

“PIOs and PAOs are a team that works to ensure that the public and our stakeholders are aware of the positive work that our employees perform daily,” said Wonder. “It’s all about teamwork.”

When snow is falling on the Golden State Freeway (I-5) in the Grapevine, temperatures are in the mid-20s and the conditions on the highway become icy and slippery. That's when Caltrans and the CHP activate Operation Snowflake. Once the operation is activated, the I-5 closes from Parker Road to Grapevine (approximately 30 miles) and the freeway looks post-apocalyptic with little-to-no lights for miles. Sometimes, Operation Snowflake can be activated on the Antelope Freeway (SR-14) or the Pearblossom Highway (SR-138). To meet the call, several experienced Caltrans staff are prepared to clear the ice and snow, and help motorists get to where they need to go.

When Operation Snowflake is activated, Senior Transportation Engineer and Traffic Management Team Manager Sam Esquenazi jumps in his department SUV at the Los Angeles Regional Transportation Management Center (TMC) and heads north to the Lebec Maintenance Yard, which also doubles as Operation Snowflake Operations Center for Caltrans and CHP. Esquenazi oversees the changeable message signs (CMSs) and detours put in place to inform and redirect traffic. Operations activates CMSs five, ten, and fifteen miles out from the closure.

“We’ve got it nailed, it’s almost routine,” said Esquenazi. “We plan early for this operation and we have a lot of very experienced staff.” Also, in the area is 26-year employee Maintenance Superintendent Tom Cowan, who too oversees the coordination of plow trucks during Operation Snowflake. Sometimes the conditions on one side of the Grapevine can be sunny and warm, but the other side could be covered in snow and ice. "We’re ready for anything that Mother Nature can throw at us,” said Cowan. “We rely on each other and we use radio communication to keep up with the road conditions.”

In addition to the plow trucks, several sheds with sand, cinder (crushed lava rocks), and Ice Slicer (a de-icing agent similar to salt) are stationed along I-5, SR-14, and SR-138.

Unlike in other parts of the state or the country, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) requests the closure generally because motorists and truck drivers do not slow down or change their driving behavior for the icy conditions and occasionally cause traffic collisions. “If and when there is a traffic collision or a vehicle gets stuck, more problems could ensue,” said Cowan. “Drivers unwilling to change their driving habits, bald tires with no traction, and snowy conditions are a bad combination.”

For the most part, Operation Snowflake was smooth during the district’s snowfalls this year. “We’re just doing our jobs,” said Esquenazi. “When the closures happen, we’ll be ready,” said Esquenazi.