Source: Daily News of Newburyport (MA), July 16, 2014
Posted on: http://constfpn.advisen.com
It appears that the $292 million Whittier Bridge/I-95 Improvement Project has hit a snag after a faulty concrete pour.
Concrete was incorrectly poured in a support pier that rises out of the Merrimack River. Work has been ongoing to remove the problem and replace it with the correct mix.
“A recent inspection indicated there was a quality control issue with concrete that was placed on one of the pier columns for the new northbound side of the bridge,” Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) spokesman Michael Verseckes said. “The concrete was placed such that there were voids or ‘honeycombs’ inside the pier column. As a result, MassDOT directed its contractor (Walsh-McCourt JV1) to remove and reconstruct the concrete.”
Details about the problem — such as the amount of concrete erroneously poured, the costs and expected delays — were not immediately available. Walsh-McCourt is responsible for all cost and time impacts associated with the issue and whatever corrective action is taken. New concrete will have to be poured and Walsh-McCourt will have to submit a recovery schedule to MassDOT, the results of which should be available within a week but the actual schedule impacts are unknown as of this time.
Although the state has frequently sent out public announcements about the bridge, the problem with the concrete was not publicly acknowledged until The Daily News began inquiring about it.
Verseckes said that he was pleased with that Walsh-McCourt caught the problem and is taking corrective action.
“The bottom line here is, this is a major project along the I-95 corridor,” Verseckes said. “We want to get this done, and done right.”
Rumors have swirled in Amesbury’s Point Shore area about the project’s progress after construction moved to the western side of the bridge at the end of June. At the time, Walsh-McCourt JV1 was said to be beginning the process of driving piles for construction of the new Pine Hill Road/Ferry Road Bridge in Newburyport. But neighbors living in Hawkswood Estates on the Amesbury side of the river soon became concerned with the constant sound of cranes and jackhammers.
“It was like Chinese water torture,” Hawkswood resident Elaine Dietz said. “Some of the noises were like a truck backing up. It was an incessant beeping and there was no escape. Then there was the jackhammering and it became really apparent at night. We were all suffering from sleep deprivation. There was no sleep to be had, no escape to be found. I put the pillow over my ears with earplugs and I could still hear it. We would shut the windows, put the air conditioner on, put in the earplugs and the only things that drowned it out was when I got a noisy fan and put it next to the bed, near me. That was the only way I could sleep.”
For Dietz, missed sleep could be more than a simple inconvenience, her husband Ray is immunocompromised and has been taking intravenous chemotherapy every other week while he has been battling cancer. Sleep deprivation for her husband, Dietz said, could result in an infection requiring an antibiotic treatment and hospitalization.
“Fortunately he didn’t pick up an infection during that time,” Dietz said. “But he could have because of the lack of sleep. It was a frightening scenario to be subjected to.”
Another concern for Dietz and her neighbors was the timing of the construction work which would begin early in the morning then end around 4 p.m. The neighborhood’s normal tranquility would return after that, only to be interrupted once again between 10 and 11 p.m. when a new shift would come on.
After engaging Mayor Ken Gray’s office and MassDOT, the work shifts were changed and the crews are now on first and second shift schedules as opposed to first and third shifts, which Dietz said she and her neighbors have been very appreciative of and have been sleeping through the night ever since.
State officials have confidence that the bridge project will continue apace, and that problems will be corrected as they are found.
“This project falls under a different model than we normally use. This is a design-build project, as opposed to design-bid-build,” Verseckes said. “Under design-build, completion of the design and basic construction activities can be conducted concurrently. Under this model, MassDOT is able to accelerate the overall project timeline. That said, any work that is found to be not up to standard or could affect the durability or long-term service life of the bridge will be addressed and corrected.”