My Turn By Kirk Williams Why did the new Parkway Culvert take so long?

Hurricane Irene washed the old culvert away, damaging utilities and causing a major traffic impact to the village. Immediately, the village contacted FEMA for emergency federal funding for bridge replacement.
Village engineers, in concert with FEMA, assessed the damages and roughed out a recovery plan. Application for the federal funding was started once the “scope” of the project was known.
Our FEMA rep was Mike Patton, who is both a licensed engineer and architect. He had extensive experience nationwide in many disaster recoveries.
While Mike was expediting the funding issues through FEMA, the village hired Dave Getz as our design engineer. On April 19, he started the hydraulic study and began design.

Approval from feds, state, county

Our designer had many considerations when the plans were made for the replacement. They included our “green” policy. The old culvert was crushed into suitable shoulder back up and we decided to re-use 100-plus year old railings from old bridges.
As a DEC-protected stream, certain parameters were required for environmental protection. FEMA also has certain requirements for replacement work.
In essence , a culvert design was needed that took into consideration “the 100 year flood” which is worst flood condition in 100 years. Any replacement needed to be prepared for that.
Before anything could be designed, we needed to know that where the new culvert would sit and would it be able to carry the new loading. We hired Fairway Testing Labs under a county emergency bid, to provide borings and soil analysis for what is called “bearing capacity.” Our engineer used that information in his design calculations.
Our proposed design and construction methods needed to be approved by FEMA and the DEC . Even the Orange County Health Department had to approve a portion of the project.
A major water distribution main was severed, and it caused major water quality issues. The Village water, like traffic, had to be re-routed, and it contributed,(but was not the sole cause) to our “brown” water issues. Our proposed reconnection was designed to Health Department requirements. It was submitted to them, reviewed and approved.
While all this was happening, Dave Getz and I decided to look at a”pre-cast” culvert as opposed to a traditional “built in place” culvert.
Since the site was within the Village Historical District, the Architectural Review Board had to decide on the “Finish,” colors and re-cycled rail configurations.
A very interesting experience then happened, while choices of finishes occurred. This involved working very “long distance” with Fitzgerald Form Liners in California. We actually had several choices overnighted to us. The ARB approved the “Georgia Ashlar “ old stone look.
The “pre-cast” culvert was approved. The Village bid the pre-cast out as soon as that approval was done and the FEMA funding was secured. Doing this surely saved months of time, and was a great cost savings. The strategy was to have the culvert made, and curing, while the other parts of the project were yet to be approved, or bid. When public bids are let, there are legal time limits which must be followed.
A purchase order was issued to the low bidder, ConTech. ConTech engaged one of their licensed precast fabricators; LVH of Kingston. We then hired Fairway Testing Labs to provide in-plant rebar and concrete inspections.
While all the pre-cast work was going on, we bid out the erection and on site construction, using Legal Notices and Dodge Reports. Sita Construction of Goshen was the low bidder. They immediately started to work, after the Board awarded their contract. (
The bid was reviewed, references checked, and the Board awarded the field work on June 4th. Submittals were done immediately, and the contractor mobilized.

Behind the scenes

While all this was going on, a critical part of the work was ongoing behind the scenes.
This was the historically accurate restoration of the old railings. Since they were very old, bent and heavily rusted, extra care was needed. We also needed to make them Code compliant. We hired the very talented, local Blacksmith Paul Norris.
He did all his research, especially to see if the aged iron-steel was weldable. Dave Getz drew up a plan for additional strengthening and maximum openings for safety. They also had to be functional as they are actually barriers to prevent vehicles from driving thru, and protect pedestrians. Paul was able to dismantle and re-use the old parts.
But before that, the rails needed to be taken down to white metal so the integrity could be confirmed, and proper welding and coating could be done. The ARB chose the final coating color, and a special road salt resistant coating was specified. The rails were shipped to Blastco, in Pennsylvania, After cleaning, Paul straightened out the rails, added new and old parts. Special wooden cradles were made to transport the rails back for final coating, so that road stresses wouldn’t harm them.
Surprises
At the same time, the precast sections were completed. It started to look like it was all falling into place on schedule, and for our hoped for opening by AppleFest.
Then the inevitable construction surprises started to occur.
We found that due to OSHA Crane regulations, we would need to disconnect major power lines. O&R went to extra lengths to re-route power seamlessly, remove the lines, then restore the original power. Our Water Superintendent Chris Bennett was a key player in expediting all the utility work. His knowledge of the history of Irene and utilities was priceless.
“Irene” took the bridge away, and “Isaac” flooded the construction site. Luckily, the owner of Sita was able to recover quickly and it looked like we were ready to have the precast shipped.
Then we found that DOT regulations would not allow us to ship one day before, or one day after Labor Day weekend.
Then another deluge hit, but we quickly recovered and were ready to ship.
When the pieces arrived, they were set by a new, state of the art Olori crane. It was operated with incredible smoothness, by a local resident. Its capacity allowed for safe and accurate placement.
The exceptional quality of LVH Precast soon was apparent. Like an intricate puzzle, they fit together precisely, and quickly. Next, the pieces were stained with an ARB selected color, to avoid that raw concrete look.

On time, under budget

At the time of this writing, finishing touches are being done. It is expected that the new “bridge’ will be open for AppleFest. Not only are we on schedule, but we are under budget.
This was all possible thru the teamwork of all parties involved. My thanks to all, including the public for their patience.

Kirk Williams is the Village of Warwick’s DPW Superintendent.