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Public Works and Department of Public Utilities - Lessons Learned on Recent Projects Including DP Road and Bathtub Row
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County Councilor Melanee Hand requested a discussion of recent county construction projects and their impact on adjacent property owners and businesses.
The County’s Public Works Department coordinates roadway reconstruction efforts with the Department of Public Utilities so that opportunities to address aging utility infrastructure are also performed if necessary. Without this coordination, new roadway infrastructure may then be compromised by any subsequent repair of aged, failing utility services that require roadway excavation and asphalt patching. Coordinated projects of this nature not only lessen the construction impact on road users and adjacent property owners but provide significant cost savings for construction related expenses such as contractor mobilization and traffic control. Lastly, coordinated road and utility projects help the county maintain a better pavement condition index for the long term to reduce the chance of underground utility failures and associated road repairs.
The need for housing in Los Alamos County is at the forefront, and the road and utility infrastructure to support it is essential but can be a long and tedious process to implement.
The County realizes when a project spans multiple seasons or has back-to-back phases along the same route, it may generate a sense of construction fatigue with the traveling public and adjacent property owners and businesses.
As a result, the County has developed a lessons learned approach for recent projects like DP Road and the Bathtub Row Improvements, and for future projects looking forward such as the Trinity Drive Safety Improvements. Some highlights of these lessons learned include:
Lessons Learned - Project Planning
• Closely consider construction fatigue with programming projects, scheduling work and the timing of projects including developer led public infrastructure improvements
• Create a more comprehensive Public Information and Involvement Plan particularly for complex projects in business districts
• Acquire business and property owner input early to better plan and schedule traffic and access changes, utility work and outages
• Complex road and utility projects are most successful when the bidding and award occur in February or earlier to maximize the construction season and work before monsoons and winter weather
• Acquire as much utility field information as possible during design to avoid changes and surprises during construction
• Recognize that construction labor force is a key element to maintain the project schedule; consider incentives/penalties for completion of milestones in business districts
• Provide internal project management redundancy to address potential staff changes/turnover
Lessons Learned - Communication & Outreach
• Identify an official point of contact for each business and property owner, as they may be different, along with their preferred method of communication
• Construction work does not always go as planned. When changes to advertised work schedules change, notice to all affected commercial customers shall be disseminated timely
• Coordinate utility outages with commercial customers to avoid lost business. Mandate work requiring utility outages to be performed at night or on weekends, if possible
• Weekly email update from project manager towards end of DP Road project was well received, continue this approach on future projects
• Fill communication gaps between design completion and start of the construction phase, and provide updates on any delays (i.e. need to re-bid due to no bidders, budget not sufficient to award, etc.)
• Identify and discuss operational issues and impacts, i.e. access, utilities, noise, dust
• During design, refine visual aids to illustrate the project when constructed and conduct on-site meetings and field mark areas to facilitate communication and feedback
• During construction, maintain visible access signage; provide project information and contacts
• In business districts, conduct weekly construction meetings with business owners and the construction team to maintain communication and to timely address concerns
• Post project surveys on ways to improve
Both Public Works and Utilities Departments have their own project managers and subject matter experts in road and utility construction, respectively. This can create a challenge as county points of contact could change depending on the issue being addressed. However, the Public Works project manager maintains an ongoing presence in the field during construction and works to be that single point of contact and will coordinate communications between property owners and other departments and the contractor as needed. Further more, without this infrastructure, housing projects on DP Road like Canyon Walks, the Bluffs and future housing in Tract A-8-a would not have been possible. County staff recognizes that while these projects are being done in the best interest of the community, these projects do have an impact to the business and property owners and must be recognized and top of mind by the project team when managing these complex projects.