Construction Starts - Force Main Relocation & Boring Activities

Well construction crews are here and they are making good progress hoping that the weather holds out while they are working on the areas around the golf course to get the work done prior to the early completion day for that phase of the work.

One of the first things that needed to be done on the golf course work was the reloaction of the sanitary sewer force main that runs through the project area on the golf course. 

Crews work at installing the new sanitary sewer force main on the project.

The crews were busy installing the new line last week and this morning (April 8th) they will do the cut over from the existing to the new.  This "cut over" process requires coordination and City staff along with staff from Veolia will be monitoring the site throughout the process.  The process is expected to take about 1.5 to 2 hours to complete. 

Once the santiary sewer line is out of the way the contractor will begin the work of excavating the ponds on the golf course.  City crews have removed the water lines for the irrigation system already and so pending weather we could see ponds starting to take shape later this week!

Also last week crews from the sub-contractor for the boring work were busy boring the new storm water line under the highway.  The technology of boring allows us to install critical infrastructure under other critical facilities without disruption to the existing facilities and operations, the cost is obviously more as well.  In this case boring under the highway was the best option.

Crews work on installing the first steps of the bored piping.

The boring crew installs this steel pipe as an auger in the middle digs out the path.  Once the steel pipe is in the hole they will push the steel pipe out with the concrete storm water piping that will facilitate the travel of storm water into the golf course ponds.

We will use the boring technology again on the project to go under the railroad tracks.  This bore should take place later this week.

Staff from Bolton & Menk were also on site late last week putting in place stakes for the project.  The stakes are all placed based on GPS positioning and provide critical information to the contractor including the location of their construction limits and where varying grades are located for the ponds and other features.

Engineering firm locating stakes for the project.

The weather for the week looks to be wet especially Tuesday and Wednesday which could cause a delay in the progress on the project.  Stay tuned for more updates on the project and the impact of the forecasted weather.

Mobilization and Start of Work

Well the contractor and their sub-contractors have started moving onsite to start work on the project.  The majority of the equipment and mobilization at this point will be concentrated in the southern portion of the project between the railroad tracks and Sunrise Pointe Golf Course where the initial work will begin.

Lundell Construction, project contractor,  unloads shoring equipment at the Sunrise Pointe Golf Course.

The work on the golf course is the priority work for the first phases of the project per the contract documents and so the majority of the work at least for the next month or so will be centered in this area.  The actual first work that will be done will be the two pipes that will be bored under existing structures, HWY 71/7 and the railroad overpass.  The boring company is mobilizing at this point as well.

Some additional utility work will occur before boring can begin under the railroad tracks.  Utility company crews along with Lundell Construction were busy this afternoon working on clearing ground for the moving of underground utility lines in anticipation of the bore next week.

A large excavator moves dirt in anticipation of utility work.

With the weather warming up and conditions improving the City will be looking to open up Sunrise Pointe Golf Course in the near future.  During these early months both golf activities and construction activities are going to have co-exist on the course at the same time.  Golfers should be alert to construction equipment active around holes one (1) and nine (9) and take extra precautions to ensure that they are safe while enjoying their round of golf.

Project Schedule

Hope you are enjoying this form of communication with you regarding the project and finding this to be helpful.  Today's blog topic is the project schedule.  A major part of the discussion at the Pre-Construction Meeting revolves around the project schedule which is always the best guess based on the current circumstances and always changes.  So keep in mind as reading about the initial project schedule that there are always going to be changes and remember to check back with this blog and the web page for the latest schedule updates.

The East Central Storm Water Project is broken into stages (a total of 7) and priority was given to Stage 1 which is the golf course portion of the project to help get that portion of the project done prior to the heart of the golf season.  The image below may take some time to load as it is a super large version so you can see the writing.

Page 1 of the Project Staging

Typically a storm water project such as this is also constructed from the point of out letting storm water up to the area where collection takes place.  This allows the collection system to begin working immediately when constructed vs. having the potential for the constructed part of the project to collect water and then hold it until the rest of the system is built.

Lundell Construction's estimated construction based on the phases looks something like this:
Stage 1 - March 25th - May 15th (May 15th is the required completion date for Stage 1 by the contract)
Stage 2 - April 15 - May 30
Stage 3 - May 6 - May 31
Stage 4 - June 3 - June 21
Stage 5 - June 3 - June 28
Stage 6 - July 1 - August 2
Stage 7 - August 5 - August 30

The final project steps will be clean up and punch list items (items found during a final review of the project by the City and the project engineer to be items needing repair, resolution, or tweaking).  Those items are projected to be finished by the end of September.

Here's the second part of the project map with the rest of the stages on it.

Page 2 of the Project Staging

The contractor will use multiple crews during the project to achieve their project schedule.  The biggest impact will be the weather.  Should we have a wet spring work will be delayed where if the weather is dry then work will progress quickly and may be ahead of schedule.  The contractor will have to adjust throughout the project.

We do know that there are two bores on the project (one under HWY 7/East Lakeshore Drive) and one under the railroad tracks.  These two bores will be done very early in the project, potentially within the next week or two.

That's the current schedule for the project as of the pre-construction meeting.  We will keep updating the web page and the blog on changes that we know about in regards to schedule updates and work progress, so stayed tuned!

Have a great weekend.

Welcome & Project Kick Off

Well it is the first day of spring officially but the weather certainly isn't spring like outside.

First on the list of items to cover in today's blog post is a welcome to everyone reading the post.  We hope that this provides our residents with a unique and interesting perspective on the project while also providing you with timely updates to what is happening in your neighborhood.  Please make sure to check back frequently for more updates.

Yesterday was a big day in the project as the project officially got started with a Pre-Construction Meeting.  These are typical meetings prior to any construction taking place with the goal of the meeting being to make sure all the parties involved in the project, from contractors to the owners to the utilities companies are on the same page.  We held the Pre-Construction Meeting yesterday at City Hall and had a great attendance at the meeting.

Here's a quick photo of the meeting with the contractor and utility companies discussing the places where impacts are going to be the greatest.

Also during the Pre-Construction Meeting the contractor went over the project schedule as it sits now and we spent a lot of time talking about the need to ensure that while the project moves forward we don't do anything that could potentially cause pollution to the lake.  Each project that the City has must have a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (commonly referred to as a SWPPP, pronounced SWIP).  This is a plan specific to the project that includes all the measures that the contractor will take to ensure that pollution, including dirt runoff, will not pollute the lake.  The plan also includes regular testing and observations and logs of everything that are then inspected by City staff and Department of Natural Resources staff throughout the project.

We are very fortunate to have a local contractor in Lundell Construction working on this project.  As a part of the community they fully understand the value of the lake to the community and the need to protect it against any type of pollution.  We are confident in their dedication to a safe, clean project.

Another big topic at Pre-Construction Meetings is the project timeline.  I will talk more about that topic in the next blog post in the next day or so.

Until then - thanks for reading and have a great day.