Delaware transportation officials revealed Wednesday that they expect some $6 million in lost funds from problems with the approaches leading to the planned replacement for the Indian River Inlet Bridge.
Coastal Point • SUSAN LYONS
Work on the Indian River Inlet Bridge itself has been halted until a new contract can be awarded.
Revealed earlier this month, the problems with excessive settlement and westward leaning of the bridge approaches are estimated to subtract some $6 million from a total of $8.1 million that has been spent so far for approach embankments, mechanically stabilized earth, wall construction, wick drains and erosion sediment control items.
Work costing some $2.1 million is set to remain in place under a new plan that will reduce the height of the approaches and lengthen the over-land span of the bridge to compensate for the problems with drainage and settlement needed prior to span construction.
Of a total $20,831,000 spent on overall construction at the inlet to date, DelDOT officials said some $14,830,000 in value is still usable, including mitigation, realignment, stored materials, miscellany and the remaining 1,200 feet of embankment under the re-design plan.
Officials emphasized that the estimated lost value in the project does not include the cost to remove that $6 million worth of material that is now slated to be used in other state transportation projects – a use DelDOT officials said would save some state transportation funds for those projects.
To date, some 57 percent of the cost of the roadway construction project – valued at $36.5 million overall, with changes – had been expended, including costs for realignment of Route 1, park improvements, wetland mitigation at Fresh Pond, engineering and traffic maintenance.
The remaining $15.7 million in the roadway contract is now to be used to pay for the removal of the existing embankments, construction of the shortened roadway section to tie into the existing Route 1 and re-design work as required for pedestrian and bicycle access to the new bridge.
Investigation into problems, compensation under way
The information about the problem and associated costs was made available Wednesday, leading into a scheduled joint public hearing to be held by the Delaware House Transportation Committee, Senate Highways and Transportation Committee and the Joint Bond Bill Committee that evening, in the House Chamber of Legislative Hall in Dover. The hearing was set to focus on the most recent set of problems with the Indian River Inlet Bridge project.
DelDOT officials and the relevant engineers/consultants were to have been invited to attend Wednesday evening’s meeting to answer questions and hear concerns about the latest setback with the project. But those plans shifted in the days leading up to the hearing.
An advance copy of a speech from Transportation Secretary Carolann Wicks planned for Wednesday at the joint hearing noted the planned absence of private contractors involved in the roadway construction project to date.
“I would like to point out that representatives of private companies that have worked on the project to date are not here this evening. There is good reason for their absence.
“Having those representatives here could jeopardize the investigation we have embarked upon. I apologize if this was not your expectation, but I did not have the opportunity to discuss this with you prior to the notice of this meeting being publicized,” the speech notes.
DelDOT officials have suggested that investigation of the circumstances surrounding this most recent spate of problems with the bridge project could potentially yield findings of fault with those companies.
Such findings that could potentially net some kind of compensation to the state that could then be used to help offset an estimated $30 million in increased costs for the new design and increasing construction costs, above the original $120 million price tag that was budgeted.
Also impacted have been maintenance costs for the surrounding areas of Route 1 and Road 50A, which have already needed repaving and other repairs as a result of the shifting approaches.
“I have already made a public commitment to investigate how we got to this point, and I will reiterate that now,” Wicks’ Wednesday address emphasizes. “We are working closely with our deputy attorney general, the Federal Highway Administration, and others to ensure we proceed in the proper manner.
“Most recently,” Wicks continued, “we determined the appropriate first step is to hire an outside claims consultant to review the information and data related to the geotechnical work.
“I want to caution everyone that this process will not happen overnight, but we will take deliberate steps to conduct a thorough review of the process, design details and overall decisions that have brought us to this point,” she said.
“We will follow the policies we have in place that serve to protect the state from errors and omissions while recognizing the complexities of developing engineering solutions for difficult problems. Ultimately, our ability to seek reimbursement for additional project costs will be determined by this process.”
Contract process for new design ongoing
Wicks noted in her speech Wednesday that several options to resolve the problem were considered:
• Rebuilding the approaches with lightweight fill material — requiring additional time to determine appropriate design and interfering with contractor access to the Inlet area, and at a higher materials cost.
• Adding a greater amount of fill material in anticipation of accelerating the consolidation rate and reducing the seven-year estimate now given for needed settlement levels of 95 percent, but not resolving the problem of shifting.
• Removing a majority of the fill embankment and building a longer structure.
Wicks pointed out that all three options would involve increased costs, resulting in enhanced prominence in the decision-making process of timely completion of the new bridge. With that in mind, Wicks said, the decision was made to take the third option and build a longer bridge.
As previously proposed, the piers for the new bridge will be out of the water, removing them from the scouring damage that has raised concerns about the safety and longevity of the existing bridge.
The major change for the design is the lengthening of the entire bridge, from 1,400 feet to 2,600 feet.
DelDOT officials recently issued a request for qualifications (RFQ) to find qualified design/build teams to engineer and construct the new bridge. Those RFQ’s are to be reviewed by Dec. 19, followed by a request for proposals (RFP) from the qualified companies.
The contract on the new bridge is now expected to be awarded by spring of 2008, with construction to be completed by 2011.
Safety concerns continue to be raised
Coincidentally, 2011 is the outermost year in predicted safe life for the existing bridge, according to a U.S. Army of Corps report from 2005 that DelDOT officials have since called into question.
Wicks acknowledged the safety concerns about the existing bridge in Wednesday’s address.
“As the Secretary of this department and as a professional engineer, safety of the traveling public is my No. 1 priority,” she said. “I have reviewed the data, studied the reports and discussed the issues many times with the DelDOT team you see behind me.
“The existing Indian River Inlet Bridge is safe and in no immediate danger of failing,” she emphasized. “In our August bridge inspection, our analysis determined the deck and superstructure are rated in fair and satisfactory condition. More significantly, our annual dive inspection in September indicates the piers under the water are stable, and that the rip-rap placed in 1989 is intact.”
Wicks again stated that the existing bridge is “the most monitored bridge in the state, and our No. 1 bridge priority.”
She said that future changes to the scour holes impacting the bridge structure are dependent on many variables that cannot be fully predicted, including future storm events.
“While we do not envision these conditions resulting in a sudden collapse of the structure,” she said, “they could affect its future serviceability.”
The existing Indian River Inlet Bridge is made up of five spans of steel girder beams, each approximately 250 feet long. Wicks said, “This multiple-beam system means that if one span failed, other spans would be able to carry the load, allowing the bridge to remain standing.”
Despite those assurances, Wicks said DelDOT is doing more to assure the bridge’s ongoing safety while its replacement is being planned and built. That includes yearly inlet bottom surveys from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and survey equipment readings taken every month.
“Most recently,” Wicks said, “we teamed up with the University of Delaware to install sensors on the piers of the bridge. These sensors will offer the department added confirmation that the bridge piers are stable. Should any change occur, the sensors would provide DelDOT an opportunity to promptly respond.”
Wicks also said that, next year, again in conjunction with the university, DelDOT will be installing sonar equipment at the base of the piers that will detect any changes to the inlet bottom.
“We will remain diligent and vigilant in our inspection and monitoring of the current bridge structure to ensure the safety of the traveling public. This can also be said of the more than 1,400 bridges we are responsible for in this state,” Wicks continued.
“We will build this bridge. We have the resources, the know-how, and the absolute determination to get this done,” she concluded.