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Contractor gets to root of tree-cutting rush
(by Sue Reid - May 26, 2010)
Contractor gets to root of tree-cutting rush
By SUE REID
To expedite the Bainbridge Road reconstruction project, all phases of the two-year project will be combined, according to Dennis Grippi, general superintendent for Digioia Suburban Excavating, the contractor on the project.
Mr. Grippi's comments were directed to the nearly 40 residents along the road who gathered at City Hall last week for an informational meeting. Utilities are "on board" with the change, he said, which is why trees were taken down in phase two of the project earlier than expected. That is the area from Liberty Road to the city's eastern corporation line.
"That was my fault," Mr. Grippi said. The re-phasing was just decided the day before but had been in the works for a couple of weeks, he said.
"Then why were the trees cut last week?" Bainbridge Road resident Mel McNamara asked.
"Because the utilities told us we had to jump on it," Mr. Grippi said. "It's something that had to be done." It had nothing to do with the phasing, he said. "Tree cutting in phase two had to be done when it happened for the utilities."
"On behalf of the county engineer's office, I do realize there was a gap in communication" with the trees, Thomas Sotak, chief construction engineer for the Cuyahoga County Engineer's Office, said. "The trees are a perfect example of how we can do better" with communication. "If we were the weak or missing link, I sincerely apologize," he said.
No one received official notification concerning the tree cutting, Mrs. McNamara said.
Mr. Grippi said the contractor was told by the utilities to get the tree person out to the project immediately. "You will have better communication from this day forward," he said.
"It's still proceeding, and still no notification has been given," Ms. McNamara said of the tree cutting. "I'm still concerned with the communication."
"Communication is better sooner than later, and better later than never," Bainbridge Road resident John Nolan said.
"We certainly dropped the ball by not notifying people about the trees," Mr. Grippi said.
Bainbridge Road resident Alyssa Keeny said the residents were promised by the city that they would be able to keep their wood, and "no process is in place."
Mr. Grippi said he was not notified about that.
Don Holmok, project manager for Digioia, who estimated the project and put the schedule together, said it was bid so that the tree cutters would be able to keep the wood and sell it.
"If we were aware of that from the city, we would have set it up in that way," Mr. Holmok said of the residents having the ability to keep the wood.
"That was something we were hoping to work out and didn't," Solon Public Works Director James S. Stanek said. He said there are some opportunities when the city's service department is doing tree clearing to give the residents the wood that they lost. "There might be that opportunity," he said.
"We recognize there has been a communication issue," Mr. Stanek said. He said the city will have a weekly meeting with both the county and contractor of the project for routine updates.
"I think everyone has been scrambling with, 'How we will do this?'" Mr. Stanek said. He said Mr. Grippi now has a plan, and he can let the city know what to expect on a weekly basis.
Mr. Grippi said the contractor needs to be in phase one and two at the same time to get the project completed. By August, phase one-A, which is the area from SOM Center Road (Route 91) to City Hall, will be completed, he said. Also this year, the contractor will work toward having the road paved up to Huntington Drive, he said.
On June 1, work on the box culvert will begin at the Huntington intersection, he said.
In the next couple of weeks, water services in phase one-A will be done, as well as storm-sewer connections. The contractor also will start to tear out the pavement for construction of the new roadway as well as start on culvert work at the Huntington Drive intersection.
"If we built the job according to phasing designed for the project, right now we'd have to leave the job," Mr. Grippi said. "We changed phasing so as we are building the road, we can be installing the sewer in the next phase."
Mr. Grippi said Digioia has done similar projects in the past as the Bainbridge Road project and have brought them seven to eight months ahead of schedule, barring inclement weather. He said at this point, the pavement portion of the project can be done four months ahead of schedule.
"We are shooting to finish constructing the road by winter of 2011," Mr. Grippi said. "It's a tough project and take everyone's cooperation to get it done on time."
He said the contractor will work on the temporary road throughout the whole project. In phase two the temporary road will go in this year as needed.
"That temporary road has to be installed before we start the pavement," he said.
Ms. Keeny said that the project has been in the works for 15 years "and now you are making changes?"
Mr. Grippi said the only thing that is being changed is how the construction is being phased.
"So what residents have been told all these years has changed?" Ms. Keeny asked. Mr. Grippi said yes.
"Part of this process is to have a reasonable shot at getting this project done in an abbreviated time frame," Mr. Sotak said. He said the design of this project started in its infancy 15 years ago. "The job was in this funding never Neverland," he said. "The job was in a quasi ready-to-go state" and then less than a year ago, the stimulus money became available.
The project went from "languishing to fast tracking, and we had to have this ready to be sold in a short amount of time," Mr. Sotak said.
Bainbridge Road resident Carol Phillips said she had to ask the "ultimate question.
"Now that we are on a fast track, in your opinion, was this temporary road necessary?" she asked.
"Yes," Mr. Grippi said. "During the pavement portion of the project it will help everyone get around." He said the temporary road is for the pavement portion, not the utility portion of the project. Mr. Grippi also said of issues with traffic, that once the project moves along, people will detour automatically.
"Then why isn't the road closed to local traffic," Ms. Phillips asked. "We are still shaking our head as to why a temporary road is needed for what will probably be just local traffic."
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