60 working days aren’t calendar days

The in basket: An earlier Road Warrior column about the slow progress on the new traffic signal at the southbound off-ramp from Highway 303 (Waaga Way) to Ridgetop Boulevard in Silverdale brought some reader comment asking how the county can figure that the contractor is still within the 60 working days allotted to get it completed.

Robin Jensen submitted one of them and said  “I believe construction did not begin until July, after the Road Warrior posed questions to county staff.

“If construction began in July, how can this project be within the 60 days allowed? We had so little rain in October, and it seems those dry days were wasted.

“I wonder if someone can ask the questions regarding when the poles and other delayed materials were ordered, since it is known that some of these are ‘long lead items’. How about a COMPLETE review of how this project was handled from start to whenever it does get finished?”

The out basket: Jacques Dean, construction manager for the county, says, “The contract was executed on June 25.  We did not start construction until August 5, but this was a county directive, based on availability of county staff.  We had multiple other projects underway and did not have staff available to manage this project until then.

“Pole submittals were received by Kitsap County on August 6, which indicates that the poles were ordered a few weeks prior to the submittal date.  It takes some time for the fabricator to develop the project specific drawings and submittals.”

The poles aren’t ordered by the county, but by the bidder who gets the contract, which it’s reluctant to do until the contract is signed. The limited number of pole manufacturers (two) in the country means getting the poles quickly is unlikely.

“There are 60 ‘working days’ assigned to this project,” Jacques said.  “Working days are Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.  The project started on August 5.

“There were six non-working days due to heavy rain in late September/early October.  The project was suspended on Oct. 21, pending delivery of water quality vaults, a long-lead item.  The suspension was lifted on November 6, when the water quality vaults were delivered.  The contractor continued with installation that week, and also completion of curb/gutter and sidewalk.

Finished paving, removing a pole sitting in the new right turn lane to go toward Bremerton, striping and other pavement work will be complete next week

“When this work is complete, the project will be suspended again pending delivery of the traffic signal poles and components,” he said. Installation, expected sometime in December, will take three or four days and the project will be done.

There were 13 working days remaining on Nov. 12, and the contractor still is under 60, Jacques said.

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