Residential Services | Gas | Water | Home | Contact Us |
 |
 |
|
8.17.04 Utility lines can tangle road work M.U.D. workers have to cover a new water main before construction on the Sprague Street bridge over Interstate 680 can resume. It's under the surface or overhead -- out of sight and out of the mind of the typical driver stuck in an orange-barrel tie-up. It's a thick web of cables, pipes and lines that carry water, electricity, gas, high-speed Internet and other important services to businesses and homes. Utility lines are needed along public right of ways. Nobody wants them anywhere else. So they are bound to get in the way at times when streets need to be torn apart and widened. But utility lines in Omaha often become bigger obstacles than necessary. That's because of poor coordination among utility representatives, contractors and city officials. Like the utility lines themselves, this poor coordination lurks unseen to most Omahans. Yet it's one of the main reasons road projects drag on. It slows road projects in two critical ways. One is obvious. It adds days to projects directly as road builders and utility crews wait for each other to get out of the way. The other way is less obvious -- but also important. The poor coordination ripples through the road-building system. It's a reason contractors shuffle crews and the city grants longer timelines to finish projects. The problem stems partly from differing priorities. Public utility agencies and private utility companies have concerns besides completion of the nearest city street project. Utilities have several types of jobs to juggle. They balance road-related relocations with scheduled service for customers. The Omaha Public Power District upgrades its electrical systems in late spring -- a period that coincides with the onset of road construction season. Water and gas mains of the Metropolitan Utilities District can be shut down only at certain times. Water main breaks, electrical outages and other emergencies can get a higher priority. The road widening at 108th Street and West Maple Road, for example, was held up in late May because transmission lines scheduled for use there went to Hallam, Neb., which had been demolished by a tornado. But the poor coordination is rooted mainly in a lack of structure. When it comes to road work, there is no organized relationship between the big public utilities and the city or contractor. Everything is based on a meeting, a conversation, a handshake. There is no formal, overarching agreement to guide actions -- even though the city and public utilities are separate governmental agencies, and even though utilities and contractors have to work hand in glove. There are monthly meetings of a utilities coordinating committee at which officials talk about individual projects. But when some participants had a conflict, the July meeting was canceled -- not rescheduled. The gatherings aren't binding in any way. On job sites, the lack of structure means there is no set way to settle disagreements. There is no boss. No mechanism for anyone to take charge of all participants, set schedules, impose deadlines. Some projects go well anyway. Participants on road projects are well-meaning professionals. They talk regularly. They try to work together, iron out concerns. Weekly meetings have been effective on 72nd Street, said Kurt Peyton of Hawkins Construction Co. City reports indicate that utility work has postponed the project deadline just seven days over the past 20 months. Utility coordination has not gone as well on Harrison Street, and the lack of structure makes it difficult to sort out why. Harrison Street, from 144th to 149th Street, has been closed since April 5. A new, wider street was supposed to open by now, weather permitting. But the project will drag into fall unless bigger crews work longer hours. The World-Herald saw an average of six workers a day on Harrison this summer, compared with 13 workers a day on 72nd. The checks were made on eight dry weekdays from morning to midafternoon. No workers were seen on Harrison just before 4 p.m. July 27, when a photographer made a separate visit to the site. It was sunny, dry, 80-degree Tuesday. City reports indicate that crews from four different utilities worked there that Tuesday. M.U.D. was there all week. Although the project was behind schedule, all of the utilities had knocked off at 3:57 p.m. And there was no one working from Charles Vrana & Son Construction Co., the road's contractor. A city inspector noted the utility work and excused July 27 from being counted as an official "working day," extending Vrana's time to finish the project. Through July 31, the city had excused 46 weekdays as "working days." That's more than the 39 days it had assessed against Vrana. Most of the excused days were linked to utility work. On July 27, OPPD had three workers on Harrison building a manhole and duct line, said spokesman Mike Jones. They worked from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. but had returned to the office just before the end of their shift. M.U.D. had a five-person crew installing a 6-inch gas line there from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., said spokeswoman Mari Matulka. M.U.D. had tried to install the gas line in late June and again in early July. The city had told the utility the dates it should get started. But both times, Matulka said, M.U.D. crews could not start because Vrana and a subcontractor had not finished their work. Without formal structure, it's no wonder there is finger-pointing among participants. Contractors and city officials say they can't accelerate road projects because they lack control over public utility crews. "The biggest cause of delays in most construction projects in Omaha is the utilities," said Richard O'Konski, project manager for Western Engineering. "OPPD and M.U.D. take their damn well good time doing anything." Omaha city paving manager Tom Glow said, "Utilities need to put in more hours." OPPD and M.U.D. officials say that's unfair. They say they could work better with more notice from contractors and clearer direction from the city. Richard Kuiper, a retired OPPD crew leader, said it is common for contractors to give utility crews less than a day's notice for a relocation. "It's not normal to get the lead time you need." M.U.D. President Tom Wurtz said his agency would work more overtime or add crews if the city sought such help. He also said some contractors let projects sit idle after M.U.D. crews rush to finish work. "Utilities can be convenient whipping boys for contractors who don't get their work done," Wurtz said. Regardless of where the truth lies, the perception of city officials and contractors prevails in Omaha's road-building system. Contractors say utility-related delays are a big reason why they like to juggle crews among as many projects as they can. City officials say utility-related delays are one of the reasons they give contractors such flexibility. And that helps explain why city projects have fewer workers and more delays than area projects run by the state. The City of Omaha has never actually tried to set strict schedules for M.U.D. and OPPD relocation crews, said Deputy City Attorney Bob Hamer. That's out of deference to equal governmental partners, Hamer said, and concern that city actions could lead to higher rates for utility customers. "The last thing the ratepayers and taxpayers need," he said, "is the city and utilities fighting." Options for faster utility work Here are some ways the City of Omaha could try to reduce road-construction delays linked to work on utility lines.
Sources: Federal Highway Administration; Cameron Kergaye, engineer with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials; and Marshall Elizer of Nashville, Tenn., and Dave Zelenok of Colorado Springs, Colo., both affiliated with the American Public Works Association transportation committee. |
Related stories City allows slow-motion road work Workdays not all "working days" Contractors thrive by shuffling crews Combining jobs creates efficiency, frustration Months of work lost to 'bad luck' Utility lines can tangle road work "SUE" helps state avoid utility line surprises Delays are cost of penny-wise approach Some bids consider time as well as money Inspectors watch crews waste time |
