Thompson Run bridge deadline now April 30
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Workers with the Pugliano Construction Co. Inc. work nine feet below the creek bed to lay a footer for a new bridge on Thompson Run Road in Ross.
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Allegheny County is hoping to complete a slow-moving bridge project on Thompson Run Road in Ross by the end of April.
The contractor on the $804,000 project had a deadline of Nov. 28 for completing work on what is officially the Pine Creek Bridge No. 1 replacement. The county extended the deadline to April 30.
Doug Aiken, the county's manager of construction engineering, said the extension was given because the county didn't allow the work to begin until July 5, six weeks later than anticipated. Then the contractor ran into unforeseen problems with sewer line relocation, followed by rainy weather.
Typically, contractors must pay penalties if they don't finish a project on time, but none will be assessed unless Pugliano Construction Co. misses the end-of-April deadline, he said.
The work has closed Thompson Run Road just south of Amity Road since early July, requiring all but local traffic to follow a posted detour along McIntyre, McKnight and Siebert roads. But several drivers have adopted an unofficial detour along Amity Road, bringing complaints from residents about speeding and other traffic violations.
The old bridge, built in 1894, carried about 16,500 vehicles per day.
Several residents complained that they did not see any work on the bridge project in July and August, when the weather was construction-friendly with below-average rainfall.
A company official denied that, saying payroll records would show continuous activity on the site. The records, obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette under the state's Right to Know Law, show that workers were on the job every weekday. But early on, there weren't many.
In July, there were fewer than three full-time workers on the job for all but two days and the company reported 327 hours worked; in August, three or more full-time workers were on the site for 16 of the 23 workdays and the company logged 707.5 total hours.
By contrast, the contractor on a PennDOT bridge project similar in size, the $800,000 McLaughlin Run Road Bridge in Bridgeville, put in nearly 900 hours in July and nearly 1,000 in August, according to payroll records.
Mr. Aiken said difficulty with relocating a sewer limited the amount of work Pugliano could do in the first two months. He said the county has inspectors at job sites on a daily basis to ensure that a sufficient workforce is deployed.
The records showed that Pugliano ramped up the work in October and November, with more than 850 cumulative hours worked in both months. But those months also had above-average rainfall, and Mr. Aiken said the contractor spent considerable time digging out after flooding on the site.
"Even small rain events turn that creek into a raging rapid," Mr. Aiken said.
The contractor has made some progress thanks to mild winter weather and is preparing to place forms for the bottom of the new bridge, he said. Once the piers are in place, work will accelerate because the creek no longer will cause delays.
First Published February 8, 2012 12:00 am
