Friends,
Wednesday evening, 24 March, Rick Lewis, Regional Engineer, James Construction, and I toured the current construction area. We usually tour at least twice a month. I take the pictures. The following are pictures and explanation:
Looking south (toward Austin). This is the north side of 2484 Bridge. Left is the concrete I-35 going south. The black road to the right is the Salado Plaza exit road. The black is iron awaiting the concrete.
On the South side of 2484, is Salado Plaza Bridge. Beginning with the concrete barrier to the far left, the wide dirt road leading to the crane is north and south I-35. It is ready for asphalt, black iron, and cement. The tall tour to the right of the crane will hold the large green highway signs. The road to the right of the truck with lights is the new west side frontage road awaiting asphalt, iron and cement. At the bottom of the picture where notice the iron and wood. It will be soon connected with the frontage road. The concrete road to the right of it is the Salado Plaza exit that you saw in picture above.
Underneath the Salado Plaza Bridge. The Salado Plaza road has asphalt and is awaiting iron and concrete. Looking straight ahead is the Salado Plaza road that will connect with this section of the Salado Plaza Road.
Salado Plaza bridge, west side. Notice the work on top of the bridge. This is the wall and railing. It is scheduled to be completed the next two weeks.
Going to the top of Salado Plaza Bridge that will soon carry north and south traffic. The road is ready for asphalt, iron, and concrete.
Half way up Salado Plaza bridge and looking north toward 2484. The concrete in front of you is I-35 south awaiting to be connected to Salado Plaza Bridge. The black iron to the right is the final section awaiting concrete. The red pick-up to the left is parked next to the the east (right) side of the Salado Plaza exit. The road to the right of the barrier is the current north and south I-35 Highway.
On top of the Salado Plaza Bridge. See the final stages of construction. Notice the height of the bridge -- the roof tops, the signs, the flag.
In the middle of Salado Plaza Bridge.
Looking north toward the 2484 bridge. It will not be long before the bridge and the new I-35 are connected. The narrow concrete road to the left of the equipment is the new west side frontage road. The Salado Plaza exit will connect with this frontage road.
An interesting picture. This is the Thomas Arnold exit ramp. To the right is CEFCO. Underneath it are two large concrete columns. Vehicles will travel between the two columns to enter I-35 going south. Notice the connecting road on the other side of the deck planks which will go on top of the beams.
On the south side and on top of the Salado Plaza Bridge looking at the Thomas Arnold exit on the distant right awaiting asphalt, iron, and concrete.
Do you recognize this road where the black pick-up is traveling?
In front of you is Salado Plaza Road awaiting to be connected to the beige road, awaiting asphalt, iron, and concrete. This road goes under Salado Plaza Bridge. The green grass is Compass Bank. It looks close but a telephoto lens is being used.
Another interesting picture. This is the east wall of the Salado Plaza bridge and the current I-35 north and south traffic. On the ground looking west toward the bridge is the huge amount of black plastic. Notice the white line on the south bound I-35 traffic separating the lanes. The wall of this bridge will be extended to that white line. This wall will have another stage coach like the one on the West side. Looks difficult? It will take about 3 weeks to finish it.
Looking south toward Austin from the Salado Plaza Bridge. See the equipment at the far end. They are sitting on the completed section of I-35 going south. This bridge road will soon be connected to the road.
The Thomas Arnold exit awaiting the deck plates on the dirt.
This is where most of the wrecks are occurring. This is I-35 going north; on the right is the Fire Department and the Church of Christ. Notice the white car and the left barrier curve in the road. See how close the white car is to the barrier. That curve comes quick and if one is half asleep or not paying attention, they will hit the barrier. Once hit, there is no where else to go -- the car will cross the lane and hit the red car with luggage on the roof. The black SUV in front of the red and white cars, almost hit it. Notice the tail lights. Monday night, the barriers will be moved to the left and the road will become straight.
Who discovered this? Who works the most wrecks? Our Fire Department Chief, Shane Barrier. He told James Construction and TxDoT and the correction is being made.
Another picture of the curve. See the black car on the left. If the driver fails to stay in the lane, the wall will be hit. One again, notice the tail lights. The driver recognizes the curve and begins slowing down. However, if the driver was not paying attention, a wreck will occur.
This is real time photography. I am standing on top of Thomas Arnold Bridge taking the pictures.
The tour ended. Crews will be working through Good Friday and Saturday. Some will work on Easter. According to Rick Lewis, "We have no other choice. The rains caused a delay and we have to get back on schedule."
VR/Skip
Read: Re-electskip.blogspot.com
Yep proof that it won't be done by June. The mayor lives in la la land.
ReplyDeleteJune is a pipe dream date that many suspect is physically impossible to meet. And if anyone thinks a soft opening on the overpass is doable they’re living in ferry land. We don’t want semi-trucks flying off the overpass through temporary barriers. By the time the deck is poured and cure is completed a good assumption would to be add another 70-days before the overpass is completed providing all other work is completed below so we aren’t subjecting our families meandering their work area. We want to be fully removed from traveling anywhere in or around their tractors or employees working.
ReplyDeleteAs we patiently await Tomas Arnold Bridge to be completed and everything else to south to be completed, we hope you’re asking when they will be removing and replacing the broken and damaged concrete throughout. Additionally, the underground drainage issues we understand might be contributing to the flooding issues during rain events. If underground drainage isn’t working or installed incorrectly, we hope that gets put on the front burner to help mitigate flooding and help our watershed and Salado Creek.
The entire community is fed up and feel they’ve hopscotched around enough on the project and nothing is ever really being completed like we were told was going to occur. We aren’t going back off and expect the work will be completed as contracted to compete. This out of stage and out sequence work does nothing but damage everyone. We hope TxDOT is faithfully and fully enforcing each and every term of the contract without wavering or giving up and makes them complete the opened areas so we look normal again. We do appreciate what TxDOT and their teams are doing to help us get through these trying and difficult times. We owe TxDOT and their teams a big thank you for going above and beyond the call of duty and not giving up. Most importantly they didn’t give up or quit.
The pictures say a lot about why we continue to hear about the PCC paving issues and the laundry list of corrective action items.
ReplyDeleteAbsent of using wire grade control on substrates or blue-tops on 25-foot OC grid, thin and thick PCC pavement non-compliance notices is always an issue for anyone. By the looks of the bond breaker variations shown in the pictures, one could come to the conclusion GPS machine control was used to establish FG tolerances or they don’t know how to verify and accurately check grades.
Somebody from TxDOT might want to bring up that if they are using GPS machine control, GPS machine control isn’t accurate nor will any machine control on dirt work ever provide substrate tolerances PCC pavement mandates. And everyone should know to verify and fix bond breaker finish grades before placing steel and never assume FG is exact PCC pavement requires.
Not knowing how the IRI specification reads on this contract, TxDOT might prefer diamond grinding or full removal plus any monetary deducts to offset taxpayer damages. I for one don’t want to incur additional tire and automobile repair costs driving over bad roads. We’d rather have full life expectancy with smoother road within the critera of the contract. We feel sorry for the PCC paving subcontractor, they must be fit to be tied working those awful substrates.
http://www.smoothpavements.com/content.aspx?id=1
Mayor someone is feeding you a line knowing you don't understand what is being said. The weather though might have delayed the work a week or so but that has nothing to do milestones not being met and the delays we deal with.
ReplyDeleteFailure to plan the work and prepare the site for wet weather has played a critical role not making scheduled completion dates we’ve been told would be met. Anyone with common sense knows to grade the site to drain, use all weather materials, and keep piles covered with plastic so they don't run or become to wet to use. There is so much that isn't done before rain events that this company chooses to do in order to keep progress moving along.
Failure to provide quality control and installing work correctly has also played in critical role not making scheduled completion dates we’ve been told would be met. Look at the feeder road south of Thomas Arnold that work isn’t done because of their actions and continued failures. They don't think we see the issues or hear about their corrective actions being done. We see the problems Wolff is has and we can clearly see the worn out form liners with pours being made. We're not surprised TxDOT isn't making them tear some of out until after the pours are done since it's well known that TxDOT isn't obligated to tell them how to do their job as contracted to completed.
Only using one set of column forms also played a critical role not making scheduled completion dates we’ve been told would be met.
We have heard they didn’t amend the mix designs to hit concrete strengths sooner than the standard TxDOT mix designs provided for by contract. TxDOT allows upgrades on concrete strengths but they don’t allow lower strengths. Amending the concrete mix designs to reach cure time sooner does reduce to 24-hours not the standard 4 to 7 days.
Keep in mind the only mix design that can’t be changed is the deck. Assuming they verified the beam deflections after setting, hence assuming that they didn’t use the defection chart in the drawings but actually verified and graded the beams and again double checked beam defections then the deck pour is still a couple weeks out. There is still a lot of work left after the deck pour assuming TxDOT isn’t allowing a soft opening due to public safety. If they didn’t verify deflection tables and deck pour exceeds the allowable loads, then add another month or two to fix.
As we see it, Mr. Lewis is blowing smoke and is telling you what you want to hear not what reality is. It is obvious to those that understand the work Mr. Lewis continues to tell you what you want to hear not what is factual or close. It would be advisable to ask TxDOT what is factual. Ask TxDOT is they are using their CPM for their planning of work and if that CPM is accurate. By what we watch, they are reactive not proactive with their planning. It's doubtful their CPM is being used let alone reliable watching what they aren't doing.
If Mr. Lewis actually believes what he is telling you then he is no better than dummies he has working underneath him. We thought he might've been a little brighter but evidently he isn't if he continues to blow smoke up our rear-ends. We already know Mr. Poselli and Mr. Alzaldo aren't qualified so we don't expect those two to come around and tell us anything understanding their past failures.
Not only the single column form but cap form as well. We see why work isn’t progressing as represented they would be. The weather played a very small part why work didn’t progress along. Add the rain days up and look at what didn’t occur. Weather can impede progress somewhat but the weather had nothing to do what we see occurring and why progress wasn’t progressing as fast as the recovery schedule we were told would be.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think Mr. Lewis is an engineer per say, maybe a junior project engineer in training but no Civil or Structural engineer. If he was an engineer then some of the stuff you post he’s said wouldn’t have been said. Mr. Lewis ether isn’t telling you the truth as we see it or he really doesn’t know what is supposed to be done or how work should’ve been done. Anyone that knows simple 1st grade math can do the dates and when the remaining work would be done. I’d rather think he doesn’t know since I prefer to think people don’t knowingly, willingly especially since the contract incorporates and falls under 18 USC 1020. One cap form, one column form, cure times, setting steel, stripping forms, setting beams, etc...etc…etc… say’s someone lives is fairy land or they are actually that dumb that they can’t do a CPM schedule that works and everyone plans their work well on advance off that single most important document.
We are still wondering when they’ll complete their removals and replacement of all their damaged concrete throughout and PCC paving issues that is out of acceptable tolerances. And what about the drainages that don’t to appear to be functioning correctly. Our emergency services that our taxes pay for spend more time working on Interstate wrecks that we’ve ever had before. We hope when they move barriers that they also fix the pavement issues and how the exit ramp interacts on the curve data through the tangent and super elevation.
18 U.S. Code § 1020 - Highway projects
Whoever, being an officer, agent, or employee of the United States, or of any State or Territory, or whoever, whether a person, association, firm, or corporation, knowingly makes any false statement, false representation, or false report as to the character, quality, quantity, or cost of the material used or to be used, or the quantity or quality of the work performed or to be performed, or the costs thereof in connection with the submission of plans, maps, specifications, contracts, or costs of construction of any highway or related project submitted for approval to the Secretary of Transportation; or
Whoever knowingly makes any false statement, false representation, false report, or false claim with respect to the character, quality, quantity, or cost of any work performed or to be performed, or materials furnished or to be furnished, in connection with the construction of any highway or related project approved by the Secretary of Transportation; or
Whoever knowingly makes any false statement or false representation as to a material fact in any statement, certificate, or report submitted pursuant to the provisions of the Federal-Aid Road Act approved July 11, 1916 (39 Stat. 355), as amended and supplemented,
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
Make no mistake, many are watching and it's widely known TxDOT and their consultants do in fact document the contract ensuring we the taxpayers get exactly what we paid for as contracted to complete. We just want to know the truth not the garbage they keep telling you to convey to us.
Having seen their bridge personal do bridges throughout, they do very nice work. Joey is very knowledgeable and runs a good clean operation. It is doubtful he would've used the standard beam deflection charts TxDOT provides for information purposes.
DeleteBut on the other hand, if anyone but Joey or his highly skilled teams meddled in their world like they did on the 190 flyover, then anything is possible with those knuckleheads. We've all seen the 190 flyover in Belton sit and the mess their manager made with those overhangs brackets. We would hate to see history repeat itself and have Salado plaza screwed up. Hopefully James Construction Group learned from their last disaster and left Joey and his team alone. But then again, it is James Construction Group where anything is possible with their management.
When we listen to some of the speak and what comes out of their vocal chords, it is obvious to many of us that understand the industry, they aren't brightest pumpkin in the pumpkin patch even though they come across as being smartest of all. Hollywood would be impressed and could use them in films.
We don't believe a word that their management tells you. The proof is in their work product and what they are aren’t doing. Add that up with the screw-up these guys continually do, we shouldn’t expect them to be done before the end of the year. Now with who we hear is back managing the project and a few of their old managers on the project, it’s very evident that every one of them are in over their skillset nor can they comprehend what a bid build contract entails.
ReplyDeleteNone of the enabling we see is typical of Mr. David King but maybe he doesn’t know the Heavy Highway industry well enough; otherwise, this utter disaster we watch daily wouldn’t be continuing unless PSC really needs the write-off throwing money away.
Whatever the case is, we expect TxDOT to hold their feet to the fire ensuring the contract is enforced. We want the quality we paid for when they bid the project. We’ve all but given up on Salado Plaza being opened anytime soon. We still wonder why the hell they can’t complete all the other areas they’ve desecrated or partially built. Maybe if they followed the staged drawings, traffic control plans, and self-perform quality control completing the work, they’d finish something.
The rains are heading our way this morning. We don't want James Construction Group to desecrate our roadways with their mud or silt. If they aren't willing to prepare their work areas with all weather surfaces, full-time EPA compliant street sweeper, exit track-out pads that work and keep tires clean. We don't want their mud or silt in our roadways, creek or watershed. We fully expect the 404 permit and erosion control measures are non-negotiable and be enforced. We want them to remain in compliance of the contract, 100% of the time not partially or be told what they need to do.
ReplyDeleteNone of us care how much money this project costs them. We are fed up with them anyways and fed up with some people enabling them. We want all the incomplete work completed. We the exposed areas protected or completed. We want the topsoil to be smooth and graded and in compliance of the contract as it relates to gradation and nutrient. We won't irrigation systems to spaced and installed to ensure our vegetation stays green and healthy. They've jumped around changing stages, modifying sequences all without any regard to our impacts or the public. This company thinks we're all stupid, we're not. We see the messes they make and the work product produced, it's a crying shame that it seems like they really don't care or they are that inexperienced. Anyone with common sense would be mortified but for some reason this company thinks this is normal, it isn't. It sure seems they are trying accelerate other work to mitigate their RUC damages and open southbound and push a lot of the defective work off on the punch list which is rumored to be quite lengthy. We see a lot of the problems and work that needs fixing but that has nothing to do with us since we paid for work to be strict compliance of the contract, that includes quality we demand. We don't agree nor do we care. Salado plaza only being 1/2 done isn't curing the problems with leaving work to be completed on a punch list. For them to jump around and leave us exposed isn't mitigating our traffic issues or how the public sees our appearance. We aren't a war zone, we are Salado.
We know just how difficult it is having you and your team babysit this company and their managers but we know without your leadership, we'd be in worse shape than we already are. We hear about the disastrous conditions that their Belton, Troy, and Temple projects face along with the defective work but we are lucky to have you on our project keeping this company in compliance of the contract. We expect them to fully comply with all terms and conditions of the contract and that includes the quality of the work we the taxpayers paid to have done.
Agree. We do expect the roadways to remain clean and strict enforcement of the 404 permit and SWP3 laws. When I return from NY I will be home for a couple of months and will help our Mayor through the maze and provide better insight on the issues. If CPM is being made available and our Mayor has a copy, I will be happy to review with my engineers and scheduling team and provide any comments to help us plan our community events.
ReplyDeleteWe should all chip in and buy a few dozen pacifiers and baby wipes for TxDOT to use when dealing James Construction Group's management teams.
ReplyDeleteWe are astounded with the arrogance of a select few that work for these bozo's. We wonder who knows how to read contracts, blueprints or coordinate the work let alone understand what a bid build contract entails or what the process is to actually build a project without latent defects or forgetting to install work before the next phase begins. This is better than watching Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus.
We feel sorry for their structures people and PCC paving sub. We hope none of them leave before the work is done. That would be very bad for us.
GPS machine grade control is as accurate a method as any.
ReplyDeleteStatic blue topping hubs have no better chance of producing accurate finish grading
A GPS system used with fan laser technology produces a much more accurate surface than prescribed method grading
The problem stems from not having qualified machine operators
No amount of engineering, surveying, or technology is going to fix that problem
The Tx DOT project personnel is just as incompetent as this contractor's management group
Lazy bunch of mouthy pukes withiin the state highway department
Pay close attention to the directors group turnover
A friend from Texas Sterling Construction (TSC) say's we've been forewarned. TSC is the rebound and healing. He says their projects are being turned around now Con Wadsworth is in charge and he's brought in competent qualified management teams fixing TSC disasters left behind. He said James Construction Group in Houston has taken away some of their degenerates with more follow and has screwed them up in less than 3-weeks. Its rumored Mister Phil is going to be town next week and start making a mess out here. This should be interesting if not a complete disaster knowing the work history.
ReplyDeleteMake no mistake, we will expect Phil to make sure the following occurs:
a. Keep their housekeeping neat and clean 24/7. We shouldn’t have to beg or complain for them to keep their projects neat and clean in appearance. Hence SAFETY FIRST.
b. Complete the uncompleted work with ZERO latent DEFECTS.
c. Fix all the latent defects that will impact our feeder roads and drainages that their former and present employees often spoke about.
d. Keep our roadways clean and all their mud off our streets
e. Keep all their mud and silt from flowing into our waterways
f. Keep 100% their traffic control neat, clean, and MUTCD compliant all the time and put traffic control back when it’s taken down or use flaggers to secure your work from the public.
g. Maintain dust control and don’t track their mud into our streets. NO DUST above 15% opacity.
h. Keep their employees speed to an acceptable speed limit when driving throughout the public roadways. We don’t want their end dumps to speed like they are paid by load.
i. Most importantly, don’t LIE to us. We can handle the TRUTH, it is the constant deception and outright lies that irritate many.
We don’t want a repeat of last week. Millings isn’t an acceptable surface material to be used for any detour neither is the mud being tracked outside their ROW.
Mr. Rick Lewis and his teams are either clueless or brain-dead with all the issues we keep having to content with that we shouldn't have to be.
We can clearly see by their progress and remaining work to be done. Yet Mr. Rick Lewis expects everyone to be brain-dead as he is and believe what exits his vocal chords. We don’t believe a word he says. We will believe Mr. Rick Lewis when their actions match what he conveys for us to plan from. We don’t appreciate what is the real world is labeled as deception or outright lies. If Mr. Rick Lewis is being honest with us then we wouldn't have to ask for even the basics, housekeeping and keeping their mud off our streets.
I wouldn’t let our guards down or expect anything positive.