Winslow Way closure to linger for several weeks

Published 3:52 pm Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Freshly poured concrete spells progress on Winslow Way, but the street is still closed to traffic much of the day and it will likely remain that way until early August.

While there is no end in sight for multiple delays, the city condemns the weather and an over-optimistic design schedule, while the contractor blames a disorganized mess of underground utilities.

The first phase of the streetscape and utility reconstruction was supposed to be finished by the July 4 weekend, and now, the city and contractors are hoping for cooperation from the weather to open up the street and intersection during the first week of August.

“We have a great deal of sympathy for the people immediately effected by this and we want it to be done as quickly as possible,” said Interim City Manager Brenda Bauer. “In time I think the memory of the painful delays will fade and people will find that the new streetscape is extraordinarily attractive and will bring in greater business opportunity and support for the downtown community.”

At last week’s council meeting, several councilors expressed concern for the delayed progress of the project and urged Bauer and Project Manager Chris Wierzbicki to push construction along. The second phase of the project started on Monday, and though the city expects the project to finish within budget, catching up lost time appears doubtful as the contractor tries to finish the work before November.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Wierzbicki said the $13,000 penalty for failing to finish the project before July 4 wasn’t enough of an incentive to get enough workers on-site to get the job done. Delays, he said, were caused when the concrete subcontractors didn’t show up to pour.

Torrey Johnson, the project manager representing Tacoma-based managing contractor Tucci & Sons, blamed the delays on issues that were out of their hands.

“When you are building this complex of a job in an old downtown city you run into unknowns and it always takes longer than what people anticipate,” said Johnson. “There have been numerous delays trying to find utilities that aren’t there or utilities that are there, and others that aren’t on the plans. Sometimes we had to spend days to figure out where they should be.”

Bauer said the design team didn’t allocate enough time for the contractor to sort through the “extraordinary tangle of utilities” they encountered underneath the street. The city was also limited in building penalties in the contract since it was primarily funded through grants, and the Washington State Department of Transportation restricted that penalty to $13,000, according to Wierzbicki.

Johnson said the financial penalty wasn’t much of a concern because early on in the project they knew they were slipping further and further behind schedule.

“We were working 80 to 100 man hours of overtime a week Monday through Friday, and we didn’t feel it was appropriate to throw more money at working weekends if we weren’t going to finish on schedule anyway,” he said.

The contractor started on the second phase of the project on Monday and will continue work down Madison Avenue towards Bjune Drive until the end of October. Sporadic work will continue on Winslow Way to finish landscaping and final touches throughout the next several months.

Bauer said that the unusually cool and wet spring, and now summer, have made pouring the concrete increasingly difficult. Especially because some of the concrete work requires a dry forecast in advance to schedule the pour.

“Of course, when you see the clouds and sun breaks, no rain and no one is out pouring, then it can be frustrating,” said Bauer. “But we can’t risk pouring $50,000 in concrete and have it destroyed by rain.”

Wierbicki said the city has spent a little less than half of the $5.2 million budget with the project about half done. Sixty percent of the contingency funds have been used, but Wierzbicki doesn’t expect to remove any hazardous materials in the second phase of the project.

The city had to spend approximately $80,000 to remove hazardous materials and another $300,000 for clean, dry backfill. Changes in site conditions, such as electrical duct problems, cost $20,000 in contingency and another miscellaneous $45,000 was spent to solve unexpected problems like bridges to businesses.

The contractor has spent about $50,000 for crews and $25,000 on flaggers and pedestrian controls in 100 hours of overtime.

“The contractor is motivated to finish this project because everyday they are working on Winslow is a day they aren’t making money on another contract,” said Bauer.

Bauer said she is pleased with the quality of the contractors’ work and believes that the finished project will make all the construction woes a distant memory.

Construction schedule

• The Winslow Way/Madison intersection will be closed to traffic beginning on July 18 until at least the first week of August. The intersection will be closed all day, including evenings and potentially weekends.

• The parking lanes on the north and south side of the streets will be finished by Aug. 3 and the city will likely pour both north and south travel lanes at the same time; the street will hopefully reopen in both directions beginning Aug. 8, weather permitting.

• Concrete pours in the parking and travel lanes will be open to pedestrians one day after the pour is complete.