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
