Willow Branch Creek / Riverside Avenue Project

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

On this job, the contractor plain and simply did not take appropriate measures to prevent siltation.  Yes, we have had some heavy afternoon storms, but this is Florida.   This must be anticipated. Not only did the contractor not install the proper BMP's from the get go, they repeatedly failed to sufficiently address the problem after numerous wash-outs, complaints from neighbors, and warnings from inspectors.  The City is supposedly taking enforcement action, but no word yet on the fines or mitigation that will be required.   Unfortunately, we now only have 2 inspectors for all of Jacksonville, at a time when construction is starting to pick up again.   Construction-site runoff is fairly easy and cost-effective to manage, but education and enforcement are critical.  Also, we must crack down on rogue contractors by not allowing them to bid on City contracts in the future.   If we don't work harder to prevent these type of problems, it will only result in signficant environmental impacts to our waterways and costly remediation and restoration efforts. Wasn't it Ben Franklin who said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"?

Fair enough.  I wasn't specifically talking about the contractor's SWPPP, though.

Yes.  It's a relatively easy prevention, but when you're not even halfway done and already in the red on a project.....

[Cheshire Cat]

On this job, the contractor plain and simply did not take appropriate measures to prevent siltation.  Yes, we have had some heavy afternoon storms, but this is Florida.   This must be anticipated. Not only did the contractor not install the proper BMP's from the get go, they repeatedly failed to sufficiently address the problem after numerous wash-outs, complaints from neighbors, and warnings from inspectors.  The City is supposedly taking enforcement action, but no word yet on the fines or mitigation that will be required.   Unfortunately, we now only have 2 inspectors for all of Jacksonville, at a time when construction is starting to pick up again.   Construction-site runoff is fairly easy and cost-effective to manage, but education and enforcement are critical.  Also, we must crack down on rogue contractors by not allowing them to bid on City contracts in the future.   If we don't work harder to prevent these type of problems, it will only result in signficant environmental impacts to our waterways and costly remediation and restoration efforts. Wasn't it Ben Franklin who said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"?

Lisa, was this contractor on the pre-approved bidders list? If so when was this contractor approved?

[mtraininjax]

We are lacking responsible and aggressive oversight on city contracts.  Messes like this end up costing taxpayers more and more money and in this case the impact is also environmental. Are there contractual agreements and benchmarks not being met?

But Mayor Brown will not raise taxes to hire the appropriate Washington Insiders to take care of the issues in City Hall.....so sad......

[darctones]

The permitted plans show typ details and call-out for the contractor to use their best judgement

https://permitting.sjrwmd.com/apps/idcplg?IdcService=GET_FILE&coreContentOnly=1&RevisionSelectionMethod=Latest&allowInterrupt=1&dDocName=EREG_5800355

[ChriswUfGator]

Hate to pile on Public Works, but the contractor doing the work for this project has been awful.  Every day, it seems to get worse.

+1

They blocked the drain at the end of my street (which has a steep slope and exclusively drains into the river) with sandbags in the middle of rainy season, and just left them there. The street was flooded for days. When the water evaporated enough that I could see the top couple of sandbags and realized what was happening I went and removed them. The next day they put them back. I removed them again. They put them back again, and unfortunately I was out of town when they did it and when I got back the water was backed up 2/3 the way up the hill to St Johns. That was during that time when it rained every day for a week, the water got so high one house got flooded and nobody could get their cars out (the parking areas are built higher than the street). That time the water pressure was great enough that it forced the sandbags into the drain and blocked it internally, we had to go another week getting rides from people because the cars were stuck in the garage before they came and cleaned it out.

Someone needs to explain the basic concept of a drain to these guys, and how preventing whatever modest sediment runoff they were concerned with in is particular instance (a creek is obviously a different story) doesn't justify flooding people's houses.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Hate to pile on Public Works, but the contractor doing the work for this project has been awful.  Every day, it seems to get worse.

+1

They blocked the drain at the end of my street (which has a steep slope and exclusively drains into the river) with sandbags in the middle of rainy season, and just left them there. The street was flooded for days. When the water evaporated enough that I could see the top couple of sandbags and realized what was happening I went and removed them. The next day they put them back. I removed them again. They put them back again, and unfortunately I was out of town when they did it and when I got back the water was backed up 2/3 the way up the hill to St Johns. That was during that time when it rained every day for a week, the water got so high one house got flooded and nobody could get their cars out (the parking areas are built higher than the street). That time the water pressure was great enough that it forced the sandbags into the drain and blocked it internally, we had to go another week getting rides from people because the cars were stuck in the garage before they came and cleaned it out.

Someone needs to explain the basic concept of a drain to these guys, and how preventing whatever modest sediment runoff they were concerned with in is particular instance (a creek is obviously a different story) doesn't justify flooding people's houses.

Just general layman knowledge, but the sandbags are there to keep the massive amounts of sediment created by the construction out of the stormwater system.  It stops the majority of the sediment and allows the cleanish water over the bags to enter the drain.  You see many variations of this:  sandbags, haybales, cloth liners, any combination of the above, etc...  but they all serve the same purpose. 

The issue that you seem to have, and what the contractor was not doing, is that in periods of inclement weather, these need to be cleaned on a regular basis.  And by you removing the bags to assist in drainage actually defeated the entire reason they were there to begin with.  From the sound of it, due to the flooding conditions, they should have been pumping the water into a filtration system and then directly into the stormsystem, but that's another issue all together.

[mtraininjax]

Wasn't it Ben Franklin who said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"?

Oh you want reason? Sorry that train left the station when John Delaney left office.

[RiversideLoki]

All I can say is that this whole project is freaking DUMB. While sitting in traffic on Park street this morning, I watched people driving around in circles, trying to find a way past Willowbranch creek. Almost causing accidents, and looking generally lost. It took me 20 minutes to get from Pinegrove to King street, if I didn't have to drive I could have walked faster. I can only imagine the crap-fest that's going to start when School starts next week and West Riverside Elementary is back in full swing..

[mtraininjax]

An Update on Riverside Avenue Bridge project:

Date: November 19, 2013 at 2:16:36 PM EST

I received the following information from William J. Flick, P.E., Construction and Engineering Services Consultants, Inc. on the current status of the Riverside / Willowbranch project:

The Touring Company has set a target date for the second week in December to pave Riverside Avenue.   It will be necessary to apply temporary pavement striping, however, before the road can be opened to traffic.   So depending on which day the pavement is placed, it could be that week or the following week before the temporary striping is applied.  The Contractor is working to have Riverside Avenue open to traffic before Christmas.

Overall, the project has progressed to the point where all the work in the Willow Branch stream channel has been completed, except for the removal of accumulated sediment downstream.   The new drainage structures are in place, as is all the underground storm sewer piping.   The sub-structure for the new pedestrian bridge has been poured.   The Contractor has made progress on the new curbing - more curbing is scheduled to be poured today at 2:30 PM.   It is possible that all the new curbing could be completed this week or early next week. While work remains to be done, the Contractor is making progress now that the rainy season is behind us.

Kevin M. Kuzel

Something tells me they are not going to make that deadline of before Christmas.

[Josh]

It's gonna be ugly if this isn't complete before Luminaria.

[ricker]

Sidewalk forms are staked on the south shoulder/northeast bound side of the road, which will provide walks in both directions, scheduled for tamping, curbing is in place and curing, placement for centerlines are marked and located, vertical supports for the historic footbridge appear complete.

Horizontals appear complete.

Finishing with handrails, reconstruction of the footbridge, pavement resurfacing and turf installation probably will not be delivered with a bow.

Life will go on.

We are fortunate to live in a great area of town which gets the attention it does.
Patience is a virtue.
No I don't work for the contractor.

[mtraininjax]

Bridge is done for vehicular traffic. Thanks contractors, after 13 months of fun. Still sidewalks are a mess, but at least we can use the artery of the area!