Ortonville – Like it or not, the South Street Bridge will not be open before school starts.
On Monday, village officials were greeted by an explanation from Posen Construction that bridge work will not be completed until after Labor Day.
The target date is now Sept. 13, says village manager Paul Zelenak.
‘We are not happy at all about this news,? said village president Sue Bess.
‘I’m looking to you to keep in step with the timetable and now we’re almost a month behind,? she told Jim Redding, vice president of Rowe Inc., the engineering firm that has been overseeing the project.
While he offered several explanations of why construction is behind, including a late start date, Redding could not pinpoint who is responsible for the delay.
‘All we can do is try to get them to finish sooner, but we can’t physically go out there and run the equipment,? Redding responded.
Redding said Posen Construction cited several reasons for the delay.
First, the project started nearly two weeks late because the utility companies did not come in to relocate the poles until late June.
Posen assured Rowe that the utility delay would not affect project completion date which was Aug. 20, says Zelenak.
‘They were telling the engineers all along that it was going to be done,? Zelenak said.
Secondly, Posen said rainy weather delayed the pile driving process by five days.
Finally, on Aug. 6, Rowe Engineering informed the village that the construction company asked for overtime approval in order to increase their work day from eight hours to 10 hours to meet the Aug. 20 deadline.
Redding said the pile driving time has been extended because the supports had to be driven farther into the ground than originally estimated.
‘Now that they are working 10 hour days they should have extra time,? Zelenak said.
‘With the original schedule, of eight hour days this could have been done.?
Considering five days for rain delay and additional time for extra pile driving Zelenak says that still doesn’t add up to almost a month delay.
‘The real issue here is who’s at fault,? Zelenak said.
By June 9 all parties involved, including Detroit Edison scheduling pole relocation, the phone companies, and cable were to follow with relocation of their lines, and the gas company prepared to relocate gas lines. By the project start date of June 9 those tasks were not completed.
‘By the first of July the utility companies had still not relocated,? Zelenak said. ‘But no one can answer why.?
‘As far as I’m concerned that is the issue because that was not taken care of,? he continued, adding that the project was planned a year in advance so there would be little delay in opening the bridge before school starts.
‘All those things are what we hire an engineer for, including monitoring the progress.?
‘Rowe is the project engineer, they hired the contractor and we were assured everything was working fine.?
Zelenak says the project was scheduled a year in advance to avoid costly delays and is waiting for an answer as to who is responsible for the inconvenience to residents, businesses, the library, schools, parents who drop students off at school, and the traffic officers on M-15.
Redding said if the construction stays on the current schedule, the abutment forms should be poured within the next week. Once the beams and concrete are set the bridge deck should be placed and the safety guard rails will follow the deck.
Redding says the added delay will not add to the village portion of what is to be paid for the bridge.