Monday, June 23, 2008

JUNE 23 UPDATE

Street Department staff Keith Jameson (center) and Stan Grovdahl (right) finish reconstruction of sidewalk and a curb ramp at Hathaway Street this morning.


The last tasks associated with replacing the water main in Pioneer Way were completed today. A sidewalk ramp was reconstructed at the intersection with Hathaway Street and a tree stump removed from the sidewalk between Dock and Ely streets. No more construction equipment in the street, construction noise, steel plates or traffic control, we are done!

The Water Main Replacement project was a good success. The new main is fully installed, tested and in service providing reliable water service and fire protection to customers along Pioneer Way. The project was also completed 10-days early and within budget.

A variety of problems did occur during the course of the work. The most serious was breaking a large natural gas service during the second day of pipe installation. Fortunately, this did not result in a fire or injuries. There were also problems with the old, corroded and fragile main and water service lines springing leaks when exposed during construction. The leaks forced us to repeatedly interrupt water service to some of our customers without prior warning. After all of the water main pipe was in place, pressure testing revealed that there was a manufacturing defect in the fittings used to connect customer services to the new main. The fitting manufacturer and supplier accepted responsibility and replaced the fittings at no cost to the City. All of these problems required additional time, effort, materials and work to correct and a good measure of patience and perseverance from our customers.

The success of this project was the result of a dedicated team effort from Interwest Construction, Inc., City staff and our customers and citizens. Interwest Construction was outstanding. They were dedicated and hard working, organized, communicative, responsive, capable and conscientious. Water Department staff demonstrated their commitment to total customer service, notifying customers of upcoming service interruptions and construction activities, answering questions, assisting Interwest Construction with leak repairs, and providing temporary water service connections at all hours of the day or night whenever needed. Most appreciated are the support, cooperation and perseverance of our customers along Pioneer Way. We are well aware of the disruptions to business and daily life when the street is full of noisy construction equipment all day and day after day, detours and parking restrictions which constantly change and then the water gets shut off too. Despite these challenging and changing conditions, the comments to City staff and the Interwest Construction crew were almost entirely positive. The Interwest Construction crew and City staff are extremely appreciative of this, it helped us stay focused on solving the problems that did occur and on getting job done and done right.

This is the last posting to the Pioneer Water Main Replacement blog. The purpose of this blog was to provide project information that is useful to those affected by or interested in the project. It was loosely modeled on a weather report in that most updates included a description of the day’s activities and what was to be expected in the next day or two. As I intend to continue using internet blogs as a communication tool on future projects, I am very interested in any critiques of this blog. Was the information presented useful? Was it clear? Too brief or too detailed? What can be done to make it more useful? Please feel free to email or call.

Arnie Peterschmidt

Friday, June 20, 2008

JUNE 20 UPDATE

The temporary metal sidewalk ramp will be replaced by a new concrete ramp Monday.
There is one construction task remaining related to the Pioneer Way Water Main Replacement Project, reconstruction of the sidewalk ramp at the intersection of Pioneer Way and Hathaway Street. City forces will begin this work Monday morning June 23. Expect some orange cones and parking restrictions near the work site. There may be some brief, temporary lane closures to allow equipment to manouver into the work area.


Enjoy the weekend.


Arnie Peterschmidt

Monday, June 16, 2008

JUNE 16 UPDATE

Repainting a crosswalk on Pioneer Way
Repainting the parking spaces and cross walks on the north side of Pioneer Way is being finished as this post is written. This is the last task to be done under the Contract with Interwest Construction. This will bring to an end to the large scale disruptions to traffic and parking in the project area. No more excavators, dump trucks, loaders compacting equipment, flaggers, and barricades.

City forces will be doing some follow-on work on Pioneer Way in the next week or two. The most significant is reconstruction of the sidewalk ramp at the Hathaway intersection.


Arnie Peterschmidt

Friday, June 13, 2008

JUNE 13 UPDATE

High velocity flushing of the new main to remove any debris that may remain in the pipe.

Wet weather has delayed repainting the parking spaces and crosswalks until Monday. Interwest Construction will move the barrels off the sidewalks this morning, travel and parking will be unrestricted over the weekend.

Expect traffic control to be put in place by 7:00 am Monday morning June 16 as previously planned unless the weather is wet again.

Arnie Peterschmidt

Thursday, June 12, 2008

JUNE 12 UPDATE

Interwest Construction cleaning the street and storm drains this afternoon.

The Pioneer Way Water Main Replacement project is nearing completion. The only remaining significant task to be done by Interwest Construction is repainting the parking spaces and cross walks on the north side of Pioneer Way in the project area. Painting is scheduled for tomorrow. With a little luck the weather will be dry enough to begin painting early in the morning and the paint will be finished and dry by mid-day.


Expect traffic control to begin at 6:30 tomorrow morning effecting the west-bound lane of Pioneer Way between Midway Blvd. and Ely Street. There will be no parking on the north(west-bound) side of Pioneer Way until the painting is completed and dry. Side streets will be closed for the time that it takes to paint each crosswalk and for the paint to dry. Traffic control will be removed just as soon as the paint has dried.


Please contact me if there are any questions or concerns.


Arnie Peterschmidt

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

JUNE 11 UPDATE

Pavement and sidewalk repairs were completed today, we are very close to completion of the water main project. The remaining work to be done on the street is painting the parking spaces and crosswalks in the project area. Painting is scheduled for Friday, June 13.

Traffic control for painting will be the same as it was for paving. Pioneer Way will be one-way east only from approximately 6:30 am until the paint has dried, probably in the afternoon. The side street intersections will also be closed. Pioneer Way will be open without restriction Friday evening and throughout the weekend.

The only work in the street scheduled for tomorrow will be at the Midway Blvd. intersection. We will be flushing the new main with high flows and will close the right turn land from west-bound Pioneer to north-bound Midway Blvd for an hour between 9:00 am and noon.

Arnie Peterschmidt

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

JUNE 10 UPDATE

Interwest Construction finishing preparations for paving near Midway Blvd.

Preparations for paving continued today between Hathaway and Midway Blvd. Paving is scheduled for tomorrow. Travel on Pioneer Way is restricted to one-way east-bound travel and will remain so until paving is completed tomorrow afternoon.


Expect paving operations to begin first thing tomorrow morning. Side streets will be closed at the intersections with Pioneer Way while the pavement is placed and for the time it takes the asphalt to cool.


Sidewalk repairs are scheduled for Thursday, June 12. There are a number of locations where portions of the sidewalks have been removed for installation of new fire hydrants and water meter boxes. Expect some traffic control on Pioneer Way make room for trucks and equipment at the sidewalk repair locations. Pedestrians will also need to detour around work areas.


Arnie Peterschmidt