(Above left to right) Bob Garcia, General Superintendent and Gregory Mathews, Project manager, West Coast General Corporation.

West Coast General Corporation has been building and paving San Diego roads and freeways for over two decades. Dana Ferrell, President, founded West Coast General back in the days before cell phones, satellite television or the Padres winning the pennant. Vice President, David Davey, joined West Coast General Corporation in the early eighties, and the two have teamed to form a steady, ever-growing successful organization.

Major projects for the mid-size firm include the MCAS Camp Pendleton Air Field Apron Expansion with over 1.4 million square feet of paving, the widening and paving of 3.5 miles of Palomar Airport Road from two lanes to six lanes, the 70 million cubic yard excavation of the Mira Mar Landfill, the MCAS Camp Pendleton Air Defense Support Complex consisting of 2.5 miles of inter-connecting roadways, and the MCAS Camp Pendleton Landing Air Craft Cushion with over 4 acres of paving.

(Above) Building the fill at Minnow Lake.

The companyÕs current management team is comprised of Vice President, David Davey, Project Manager, Gregory Matthews, and General Field Superintendent, Robert Garcia. The management team breaks down their workload where Mr. Davey has overall responsibility for all construction operations. Mr. Matthews handles the financial and scheduling end of the projects which requires interfacing with both city administrators and company crews on a regular basis. Mr. Garcia manages all of the work done in the field.

West Coast General Corporation has over a half dozen major jobs going at this time. "The project that is currently the most challenging has to be the San Marcos project," said Project Manager, Gregory Matthews. West Coast General is presently involved in widening Rancho Santa Fe Road. The job entails widening and laying approximately three hundred eighty thousand square feet of asphalt, which amounts to about twelve thousand tons of the black stuff. "This is a very heavily traveled road that at present is two lanes, one going in either direction," Matthews explained. "West Coast General is widening it to four lanes, constructing retaining walls, and putting in water, sewer and storm drain utilities." Beginning last November, the 12.5 million dollar job came with some rather unique technical challenges that many contractors would prefer never having to deal with.

(Above left) Road widening at the Allondra in San Marcos, California. (Above right) West Coast general is presently involved in widening Rancho Santa Fe Road.

Widening the busy thoroughfare was just the beginning. West Coast General has had to cut into the existing roadway shoulders in order to expand to four lanes. These shoulders are mostly in rock. In addition to grating and widening the roadway, the rock must be drilled and blasted, hauled away, crushed, and finally transported back to the site where it is used as fill. Also, due to the nature of the areaÕs geography, retaining walls have been necessary as well as adding interceptor drain and sub-drain systems. As if that werenÕt enough, West Coast General must deal with existing underground utilities which requires the company to interface with San Diego Gas and Electric, COX Communications, and Pacific Bell. Gregory Matthews expects the job to be substantially completed by early next year. SDG&E will then come in and convert all of the above ground utilities to underground. This conversion is expected to take approximately six months. Once the conversion is completed, West Coast General will then return to the site and complete all the cleanup work behind the utility company and finish the job.

The San Marcos project also requires a wide range of heavy equipment that includes excavators, loaders, rock trucks, and drill rigs. In addition to these, the project calls for the use of a crushing operation using a jaw type crusher and cone. This activity entails removing the blasted rock from the site by way of an excavator. The rock is then loaded into a rock truck and hauled away to the crushing plant where the rock is then crushced into three inch minus specification. This material is then trucked back to the site and used as fill. Along with the crushing operation, West Coast General is also constructing two tieback walls to retain some slopes along the project.

(Above) The crush run operation at Rancho Santa Fe Road: Melrose Drive to Island Drive Street Improvement Project used Volvo articulated rock trucks furnished by Red Mountain Equipment.

As is often the case this project is on a very tight schedule. "We donÕt have a great deal of room to maneuver," said Matthews. "This is a very tight job. ItÕs important for us to take full advantage of every rain day or technical impact that we are entitled as this project has many technical challenges that sometimes take more time to overcome. Every little obstacle slows us up so we have to watch what weÕre doing and stay on top of them to make sure the job comes in on time and on budget." Unidentified underground utilities are just one of the many challenges the company has had to face on this project. The rock shoulder has also meant many challenges in what would seem to be a standard job of widening a roadway.

In addition to all of these logistics, West Coast General must deal with the fact that they are working immediately adjacent to a new development at the south end of the project. This in itself posses its own challenges with regard to the work areas involved and having proper access to them. Throw in the fact that West Coast General is the general contractor and is working with four to five sub-contractors whose crews and work must be scheduled and you have one very demanding project. In addition to the San Marcos expansion job, West Coast General Corporation is also working on two other major projects. "We are currently working on a road reconfiguration project along Ardath Road and Torry Pines Road in La Jolla," said Matthews. This job includes the installation of water, sewer, and storm drain utilities as well as excavation and the laying of asphalt for a completely new roadway configuration in this area. T.C. Construction, Inc, is a Joint Venture Partner on this project and is performing all of the underground wet utility work.

(Above) On-site Impact Crushing Plant.

The company is also working on a GSA project at the Federal Courthouse in downtown, which entails a complete renovation of the buildingÕs HVA system that will revitalize the courthouse air-conditioning system. Due to the constraints of the courthouse having to be open during the day for business, work on the GSA project must be completed at night. This means that West Coast General has crews working twenty-four hours a day.

While Matthews admits that West Coast General Corporation is currently smaller than some general contractors in the San Diego area, this has actually worked in favor of the company. "Being smaller allows us to approach jobs differently than other contractors. WeÕre much more diligent with they way we approach things, and very thorough with issues we may encounter. In addition, we take partnering with the owner very seriously. This means that we try to partner throughout the duration of the job, not just the first ninety days."

West Coast General Corporation may not be as big as some rivals but with a company that is currently doing close to thirty million dollars a year they are certainly a company to watch. In less than three decades the company has grown and continues to expand even in the current tough economy. West Coast Corporation has a winning management team that isnÕt afraid to meet a challenge and has no intention of slowing down.