By Steve Plunkett
Gulf Stream’s road and drainage improvement project continues to be plagued by unexpected conditions — the latest by underground utilities being buried less deep than usual.
“Typically, utilities of power, Comcast, things like that going across roadways are 2 feet or greater below pavement,” Jockey Prinyavivatkul of Baxter and Woodman Consulting
Engineers told town commissioners Aug. 9. “Your cable (TV) and telephone cables are a little bit more shallow.”
The same situation happened with Florida Power & Light Co.’s underground electric lines.
“FPL runs 4 feet typically, but when they go into residential and they don’t have the room to directional-bore at 4 feet, they compensate,” said Anthony Beltran, the town’s public works director.
It’s all too close for contractor Roadway Construction LLC to use a tilling machine to prepare a street for asphalt. Instead, it will have to dig down to the utility conduits, cover them with 5½ inches of base rock to protect them from the weight of traffic, then fill in the trench and compact the soil. The dirt that is removed must also be hauled away.
And that means a change order to the construction contract. The commission approved two, along with a budget adjustment, for a total change of up to $977,305.
One is a $95,691 order to do the necessary extra work on Wright Way and Old School Road. Commissioners also approved spending up to $704,228 more on the base rock alternative as the project moves forward, without the need for the engineer and contractor to return to commission chambers.
“The big number is a worst-case scenario. At least it gives us the funding in place that we can move forward efficiently,” said Rick Chipman, the construction project manager for Baxter and Woodman.
“We do not anticipate the entire amount being used,” Prinyavivatkul said.
Commissioners also approved a $177,386 change order for widening parts of Banyan and Gulfstream roads, Lakeview Drive and all of Old School Road, from 18 feet to 20 feet to match the Core’s other streets.
Meanwhile, construction workers have been deployed to a handful of other areas to keep busy while waiting for money to be authorized.
“We don’t want them to be not coming in to work and not having any work to do,” Town Manager Greg Dunham said.
Roadway planned to spend the weeks of Aug. 26 and Sept. 3 preparing Wright Way and Old School Road for paving.
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