PRESCOTT - Drivers on Highway 89 in Prescott will have months longer than expected to deal with the bridge replacement work that has been under way for almost a year near the interchange of highways 89 and 69.
Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) officials reported this week that because of excess water in Granite Creek, the construction schedule would extend well beyond the original September completion date.
In fact, ADOT was working this week to get the bridge project back up and running after the construction has stood largely idle for several months.
The $4 million bridge replacement project that began in about August 2009 came to a near standstill after a massive winter storm in January 2010, say ADOT officials.
"We had a problem this winter with the excess flows in Granite Creek," ADOT Public Information Officer Bill Pederson said. "We had quite a long delay because of the water in the creek bed, which prevented our driller from drilling for the bridge piers."
That delay, in turn, led the drilling subcontractor to move on to other jobs, Pederson added.
While noting that drilling work can occur in a river, Pederson said, "It's a much more involved and extensive project."
ADOT Project Manager Andy Roth added that complications over Granite Creek's designation on the state's list of impaired waterways also entered into the delay. "Granite Creek is considered an impaired waterway, so we are not allowed to work in the water," he said.
Roth reported that some work, such as construction of a retaining wall and barrier wall, continued at the site after the storm. But the main bridgework has been on hold for several months.
Meanwhile, northbound drivers on Highway 89 have had to detour into the southbound lanes to get around the hole that remains from the 2009 removal of the northbound bridge.
ADOT's original plan was to replace the northbound bridge within about six months, and then demolish and replace the southbound bridge, transferring two-way traffic to the new portion of the bridge.
Even though the bridge replacement project appears less than halfway complete from the highway, Roth said some work has occurred on the bridge abutments and girders that make the project further along than it might appear to drivers.
In the fall of 2009, ADOT officials estimated that the bridge replacement should be done by September of this year.
But Pederson said this week, "Certainly, the completion of the bridge will be several months behind the original schedule."
The new schedule was still in the works this week. "Our folks just met with (general contractor) Bison Contracting today, trying to get a schedule for getting the driller back on the job," Pederson said Tuesday. "We don't know that yet, but we're hoping to get it scheduled real soon."
Although ADOT had hoped to have the work back under way next week, Roth said the drilling subcontractor currently is working on another project in the Phoenix area. "We're working to pin it down," he said of the revised schedule.
ADOT began the bridge replacement soon after its completion of 2009's overhaul of the 69/89 interchange. The goal was to replace the old bridges, which date back to 1956, with a new, wider structure.
Reader Comments
Posted: Saturday, July 10, 2010
Article comment by:
Tongue-in- Cheek
I drive this route some and boy I am here to tell you the extra one to two minute delay causes me to slow down by 20 mph for a quarter mile and detour to the other bridge is absolutely killing my life style. Now I have to make up my extra minutes on Gurly and you all know that just isn't right.
Posted: Saturday, July 10, 2010
Article comment by:
Get This
Yeah, Used to be, you could just go build a bridge. Well, with all these great environmental laws our brilliant leaders have passed, now your hands are tied. Seems silly,can't work in the water! Thanks Tree Huggers
Posted: Saturday, July 10, 2010
Article comment by:
Jay Vegas
I see workers out there all the time doing nothing. Or at the very most a couple of people working, while several others are just standing around. But then that is the case with most ADOT projects I see.Too many bosses, and not enough worker bees. Its no wonder this project is past due. High creek waters my you know what.
Posted: Saturday, July 10, 2010
Article comment by:
tired of it all
All you folks saying we should go out and hire people and do the work ourselves are not looking at the bigger picture here. Is ADOT that bad at building bridges and roads? Excess water in Granite Creek?! Your kidding me, right?! What would happen if it was a creek that ran all year long with "excess water". Then what would they do? Three Stooges time running around in circles bumping into one another doing the Curly!!!
Posted: Friday, July 09, 2010
Article comment by:
Carl Collette
Since everyone has all these great ideas, maybe all you geniuses can go out and buy some equipment, hire some workers and start bidding on all the bridge projects around Arizona?
Posted: Friday, July 09, 2010
Article comment by:
Concerned Citizen
This project has nothing on the 89/69 overpass project. Having driven that route for over 15 years, four times per day, five days per week I think I can say with some level of experience that it was the single greatest waste of taxpayer dollars I've seen yet. I observed 1 (one) accident during that time, and it was an insignificant side-swipe. The new design does not allow a turn onto 69 East bound, rather it encourages left turns across Gurley, or better yet, U-turns. ADOT's projects in our area seem to be nothing more than "use-it-or-lose-it" funds savers for their department. In addition, ask anyone from back east how long they spend on most road projects and they'll tell you that a bridge project like that would be completed within 6 months max.
Posted: Friday, July 09, 2010
Article comment by:
not smart
it seems that a lot of solutions have been offered by people who have never built a bridge or toured the site. "divert the creek" - where? it is "an impaired water way" and they are limited to what can be done. If you want to blame someone, blame mother nature.
Posted: Friday, July 09, 2010
Article comment by:
Pile Driver
They could have easily constructed a coffer dam with sheet piles to block off the area they needed to work in. But you know these guys like working in Prescott....why would they want to go back down the the valley...? This has turned into a career job for them.
Posted: Friday, July 09, 2010
Article comment by:
Christopher *
Knot, you are out of your league by those comments. The problem is not bureaucracy, but physics.There is no place to divert the water past the Highway except at the location they need to work in.
Posted: Friday, July 09, 2010
Article comment by:
To be Expected
This is amazing, stories about contractors not completing jobs on time in back to back editions of the Courier. First the water tank and now the bridge. (If a company is in the business of building bridges, isn't water flow a clear and present danger?) Have any of these governmental bodies ever thought about imposing penalties on contractors than don't get jobs done on time and rewarding those who finish early? What will tomorrow's edition of the Courier have in store for us?
Posted: Friday, July 09, 2010
Article comment by:
Where there's a will, isn't there a way?
How about a mini Golden Gate over Granite creek, or a suspension bridge of sorts. Ok, dumb idea. It's also too bad we can't somehow use the short cut up to Bucky's when coming from the north on 89 to get to Frontier Village without using Prescott Lakes Pkwy. and coming clear back.
Posted: Friday, July 09, 2010
Article comment by:
Daily Driver
One has to give the 'bridge builders' of Arizona high marks for consistency in their ineptitude. This may rival the time taken to construct a bridge on Williamson Valley Rd a few years back when the expected duration was almost tripled. Whenever a contract is let to "Bubba and Son" for this type of work, taxpayers can always expect similar results.
Posted: Friday, July 09, 2010
Article comment by:
Shirlee Welchons
ADOT has had SR89 torn up for the past 5 years for one thing or another and it has been a nightmare for those of us who have to drive it every day. Why didn't they use prestressed concrete with double T's instead of having to take longer to build the bridge that could have been done for less money and half the time? Now they're behind and it will be a constant nightmare when they tear up the southbound lane. USE PRESTRESSED CONCRETE where they can just drop the double T's into place and be done with it. THEY ARE IDIOTS!
Posted: Friday, July 09, 2010
Article comment by:
Knot A. Fan
Once again, we see bureaucracy, needless bureaucracy, get in the way. Would it not make sense to divert storm water to areas where it could sink into our depleted aquifer? No, yet another state law stops ADOT because they always do things legal and the costs to us continue to mount.
