The Southport Board of Aldermen, in a convened meeting on Wednesday March 24th, approved a two-part amendment to the ongoing Howe Street canal construction project.
The requested change resulted in more than $ 72,000 for an on-site compaction inspector and $ 414,000 in additional asphalt paving fees.
Assistant Director of Public Works Tom Stanley told board members that the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) requires an inspector to be on-site at all times to ensure that backfill is properly placed and compacted and that asphalt compaction is in accordance with NCDOT -Specifications is done. Howe Street is under the jurisdiction of NCDOT as it is a state road (NC 211).
The cost of an inspector for ECS Southeast LLP is $ 72,287, which is 10 hours per day for the next 18 weeks, which “hopefully will be the length of this project,” said Stanley.
“How is this coming to us now, months into the project,” asked board member Lowe Davis. “We are now spending money doing what we should have done from day one. What happened?”
Stanley responded that at the start of project planning in 2019, the local NCDOT representative indicated that the project would fall into the “Repair and Maintenance” category so no further approvals or intervention was required. “We also found emails from a few years ago that said the same thing,” he added. “So we thought we had all the information we needed.”
Stanley added that there is no problem with backfill compaction – it is done correctly. However, the city and its engineer were unaware of the state’s improved inspection requirements. He stated that city officials were on site most of the time, but that is not the correct coverage that the state likes to hear. A certified inspector must be on site at all times.
In response to another question from Davis, Stanley replied that it was not currently known whether the state would require that work be done again. “We are currently corresponding with NCDOT,” said Stanley. “We might be asked to dig and redesign the section of pavement from West Street to Nash Street, the state road.”
Alderman John Allen said the city should do whatever it takes to “push back” NCDOT.
“Replacing a minority section of the existing road with something larger than necessary seems to me to be the height of the absurdity,” said Allen. “I would like to know what your justification is for that.”
Improved NCDOT specifications require the additional $ 414,000 requested as part of the asphalt paving change order as a larger amount of asphalt material would be required. Stanley also said that because of this, on the day of the meeting, the 100 block of North Howe Street from Moore to Nash Street had not been paved, even though the sewer works were complete.
“The contractor was ready to start laying asphalt, but I stopped,” said Stanley. “There was no need to pave another stretch of road if it were to be demolished.”
Mayor Joseph Hatem said it was the right decision. At press time, the paving of North Howe Street from Moore to Nash has been completed and is open to traffic.
Work is currently underway to replace the sewer line from West Street to Brown Street. The entire project to replace the sewer pipe should be completed by the end of June.
Comments are closed.