C’est La Guerre, mes enfants, c’est la guerre
July 12, 2017
Terrebonne’s push for drainage
July 12, 2017
The much-delayed Galliano Bridge repair project is now set to be finished within the next week.
The Times last reported the repairs were scheduled to finish on June 6, 84 days past the agreed completion date of March 14. However, that date has passed without cars passing over the bridge, as heavy rains have held up contractors Volute, Inc. and subcontractors Lebro Construction on the repairs.
John Amedee, Volute’s project manager for the repairs, said those storms in late May and June hampered workers’ ability to pour concrete. However, Heather Klingman, an engineer with Duplantis Design Group who led the design of the project, said all the concrete has now been poured.
Amedee said all that remains is installing guardrails and striping the lanes of the bridge. Once those tasks are finished, the bridge will be open for use, a reality that could come as soon as the end of this week.
“We now have to install the rails and stripe the lanes. If the striping materials get delivered on time and the rails come back from being galvanized next week, we may have the bridge opened by Friday or Monday,” Amedee said.
At the June 29 Lafourche Parish Council meeting, Klingman provided an update on the repairs and said the good news is Volute’s remaining work is not reliant on the skies’ cooperation.
“They haven’t exactly held up to the dates they’ve submitted to us so far, but most of the weather-dependent work, pouring the concrete and that kind of stuff, has been done,” Klingman said. “So there shouldn’t be any more concern with weather delays like we had this past month.”
The original agreement gave Volute 120 calendar days to complete the repairs, with work officially beginning on Nov. 14 and finishing on March 14. However, the work has seen continued delays, with issues related to ordering sheet-piling and increased water levels, according to Amedee. While the parish is limited in its ability to speed up work on contracted projects, it is able to charge liquidated damages to incentivize work finishing on time. In the Galliano Bridge contract, Lafourche can charge up to $500 per day past schedule. Before factoring in any rain days negotiated from the price, if Volute was to finish work by Friday the parish could charge up to $61,000 in damages, more than 13 percent of the original $448,000 it received on its low bid for the project. Klingman said the impending closure to the project and opening of the bridge means Lafourche will soon have to determine exactly what Volute’s lagging will cost the company.
“Pretty soon we’re going to have to start talking about how that’s going to get addressed,” Klingman said. •
