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Steiny and Company, Inc. is currently completing work on the Garden Grove Freeway. The 13.3 mile stretch of Highway 22, a connector highway between the 405 and 55 freeways, is getting a major face lift. This is the first upgrade the Garden Grove Freeway has received since it first opened for operation in 1966. One of the major improvements being made to the freeway is the addition of HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes. Those on Highway 22 are unique. Unlike on many other Southern California freeways, drivers will be able to access and exit the Golden State’s HOV lanes at any point. The HOV lanes run from Valley View Blvd. to Tustin. The freeway expansion project also includes adding auxiliary lanes and widening access and exit ramps. In all over 30 bridges are being widened or completely replaced on the project as well as the construction of 12 miles of new sound wall. |
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| Steiny and Company is the sub-contractor for Granite Meyers Rados (GMR) and is responsible for the electrical work being completed on the Highway 22 project. As part of their work, Steiny and Company has installed and upgraded 31 traffic signals, 29 ramp metering signals, as well as approximately 300 poles for highway lighting. Their work includes all electrical work involved with the signals as well as the installation of foundations and poles for the traffic lights. New signals have been added at Beach Blvd on and off ramps. These were added to enhance traffic flow entering and exiting the freeway.
In addition to the signal upgrading and installation, Steiny and Company is also installing a brand new fiberoptic system. They are augmenting the original four cameras running on the freeway with an additional twelve. |
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CalTrans uses the cameras to monitor traffic and depends on them in order to respond to accidents and other emergencies swiftly. The original four cameras were run on telephone lines. The images they carried were slow with limited clarity. The new fiberoptic system Steiny and Company is installing will not only allow for more cameras which give greater coverage, but the images will be broadcast smooth and sharp in real time. The greater coverage will make it easier for police and emergency agencies to respond to traffic situations as needed.
Most of Steiny and Company’s work was able to be completed during normal shifts, due to the staging completed by GMR. “We were fortunate to be able to work regular shifts because of the planning that went into the project,” company Vice-President, Richard Tesoriero acknowledged. “One of the primary reasons this type of project was such a success was because it was a design/build project. That allowed the General Contractor to design as they were working on the construction. It made work proceed much faster than the typical freeway project in the past.” In order to be able to handle the project in this fashion the State legislature enacted special legislation allowing for design/build. This was the first time this procedure was performed on an active freeway in California. Steiny and Company used a crew that ran between 20–25 men. Work on the project started in the fall of 2004 and will be completed this summer. Over 209,000 vehicles travel the Garden Grove Freeway per day. Once the project is completed CalTrans has estimated that it will reduce the drive time over the length of the freeway by 12 minutes. While this may not seem like much at first glance, most motorists in the Los Angeles basin commuting to work travel on at least two freeways. If the drive time on each freeway was equally reduced, that would mean a savings of a half-hour each way. That’s an hour saved from sitting in traffic, something that would put a smile on any California commuter’s face.
Steiny and Company is a privately owned electrical contracting company. It was started by Jack Steiny in 1953. Jack’s first project was a home remodel. Fifty-four years later the company is still privately owned. Jack is still very active in the day to day operations. His daughter, Susan Steiny is the company’s President. Steiny and Company has now grown to well over three hundred employees. The company has four offices and handles multi-million dollar projects for both commercial and transportation entities. |
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The Los Angeles office currently focuses most of their work on the Metro-Rail System. The Baldwin Park office, where Tesoriero oversees operations covers all the way out to the Riverside/San Bernardino areas and focuses on transportation projects.
The company’s El Cajon office covers projects in San Diego County and focuses on commercial projects primarily with school districts. Northern California is covered by the Vallejo office where Susan Steiny oversees operations. Their focus is on commercial, waste management treatment centers as well as transportation projects.
Needless to say with offices covering the entire state Steiny and Company is extremely busy. The company is currently working on well over a hundred different projects. Among these the Los Angeles office is currently handling electrical work on the Metro Gold Line Extension project. When completed the city’s metro rail will extend from downtown Union Station through East Los Angeles and ending at Third St. and Atlantic Blvd. This is a joint venture along with Balfour Beatty with the Washington Group as general contractor. The project is a design/build. Steiny and Company is responsible for all facets of the electrical work being completed, both underground and above. This includes all street lighting and the upgrading of existing traffic signals that lie along the Metro line. |
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The San Diego office is currently busy handling electrical work at the new Ojai Ranch Village Elementary School. The office is also installing all the electrical for a new music building on the University of California San Diego campus located in La Jolla.
In Northern California, the Vallejo office is currently working on the Hayward Water Treatment project. The company is doing the electrical work at a waste treatment plant that will service the city of Haywood. They are also working on the Fairfield Waterman Reclamation project as well as the Hangtown Creek Water Reclamation project for the city of Placerville. In addition, the Vallejo office is working on a project for the Bay Area Transit Authority.
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Considering the wide variety of commercial and public work projects Steiny and Company is involved in at any one time, one of the biggest challenges the company faces is continuing to diversify. “Staying on top of all the changes going on in the industry is a real challenge,” said Tesoriero. “In order to be competitive and continue to grow we need to be able to change as the market does. Keeping up with the need to diversify can be demanding at times.”
Fifty-four years ago Jack Steiny began a company that has grown from private home projects to work on freeways and Metro systems. Jack understood that the way to keep his company growing was to diversify. Jack Steiny continues to lead the company in a direction that maintains its edge in the industry through diversification and high standards of workmanship. Cc |
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