Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
DoT inspectors must investigate discrepancies between work per-
formed and work initially specified. When a dispute arises, the DoT's project
manager (sometimes known as the engineer-in-charge or the resident engi-
neer) must first attempt to resolve it amicably, but may in rare cases, if the
matter continues to be contested, send it to third-party dispute resolution.
A challenging matter in construction is the
change order.
Such orders are
made when on-the-ground conditions prevent construction in the manner
envisioned in the original design. DoTs have elaborate procedures by which
to evaluate and approve (or disapprove) change orders. The more expensive
the change request, the higher it must be sent within the agency's hierarchy
to receive approval.
We cannot yet describe construction to renovate the Kosciuszko
Bridge, because the project is still in the detailed-design stage; construc-
tion will not begin for years. What we do know is that one aspect will be
far more complicated than in upstate New York. During bridge construction,
six lanes of traffic will continue to creep on the Brooklyn-Queens express-
way, on temporary ramps and bridge structures constructed for the purpose.
For the Route 219 Expressway in Cattaraugus County, funds were
received to build a 4.2-mile segment. The contract was awarded in January
20007, with completion initially set for July 2009, at an estimated cost of
$86 million (rounded off). But serious problems appeared, first in the form
of cracks.
As project engineers have since explained, the problems arose from
five layers of subsurface soil under more than a mile-long stretch of the new
road. The construction had unanticipated effects on these soils: sliding pro-
cesses ensued under the surface, causing cracks in the embankments. Experts
who were brought in discovered that the soils had been put under intense
water pressure; the pressure had to be reduced to make the road viable.
Change orders permitted the contractor to do the extra work of installing
drains at frequent intervals through the soil to allow water to emerge under
the road. And embankments had to be reconfigured. State DoT approved
changes of over $40 million, for a final project tab of $126 million.
The project was completed in July 2011. Traffic is now flowing over
the highway, and beautiful twin-arch bridges grace Cattaraugus Creek. If the
starting point is taken as the beginning of scoping studies, roughly in 1992,
then the whole project took nineteen years.
THE PROJECT DELIVERY PROBLEM
Let us now recap the process by which a major bridge project is built, remem-
bering the important word
major.
The word refers in part to cost but also
to environmental effects. A small bridge with significant effects on a stream
