Roadwork at New WJCC Schools Will Cost More

Roadwork at New WJCC Schools Will Cost More

By Amber Lester Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Construction at the site of two new schools on Jolly Pond Road has hit a literal bump in the road.

Contractor George Nice & Sons, Inc. is seeking an additional $213,650 for unforeseen road work at the intersection of Jolly Pond and Centerville roads. The Williamsburg-James City County School Board will review the change order request at their meeting today at 7 p.m. in the board room of the County Complex on Mounts Bay Road.

In the contract, the school board issued $610,736 to George Nice & Sons for improvements to the Jolly Pond and Centerville Road intersection. During the early stages of construction, it became clear more work would be needed than expected, totaling more than 25 percent of the original contract. State law requires the board to sign off on any changes above that percentage of the original contract.

The changes will include elevating a fiber optic line along Jolly Pond Road that conflicted with the gradation plan; unplanned improvements to the shoulder of Centerville Road required by the Virginia Department of Transportation; a gas line along Centerville Road conflicts with the relocation of several fire hydrants; the roadway grades along Centerville will have to be adjusted to avoid decreasing the depth of the pavement; and various adjustments needed as a result of the change to the gradation, such as sidewalk tie-ins and driveways.

In a description of the change order on the board’s agenda, James City County Capital Projects Coordinator Bernard Farmer wrote that several of the changed items could have been anticipated prior to the original bids. The additional project design has been done at no additional cost, and Farmer wrote that the contractor made adjustments to the plan at the outset, when new information became known. Because of that, he said there has been no “lost work.”

Farmer also wrote that there was no reasonable way to know the depth of the fiber optic line along Jolly Pond Road without fully excavating the line or doing significant tests to determine the vertical profile of the line. The design, he said, was based on the information available and the actual elevation varied significantly. To simplify the work and finish in time for the first day of school on Sept. 7, it was decided the curb-and-gutter system would have to be redesigned.

The new change request has been reviewed by Farmer and the project designers, Kimley Horn, and approved as a reasonable cost proposal. The total construction estimate is now $782,000. See the detailed change order request by clicking here.

Comments

+2 #7 Guest 2010-08-17 21:47

contractors do estimates based on what is shown on plans; in this case the plans were wrong. the contractor cannot be held responsible for shoddy plans

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-1 #6 Guest 2010-08-17 19:41

$782,000 is alot of cash just for the intersection. It would go a long way towards keeping all those jobs that were lost due to budget cuts, pay raises, or the many other human needs in the schools. When we do estimats and things come up I have to eat the costs. Sorry, but so should George Nice

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+4 #5 Guest 2010-08-17 16:34

Three quarters of a million, for an intersection! That's twenty one teachers that could be back at work. That's the county for ya.

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0 #4 Guest 2010-08-17 14:54

Did someone forget to call Miss Utility? Shoddy planning. The deal is taxpayers ALWAYS have to pay for everyone else's mistakes!

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+3 #3 Guest 2010-08-17 14:11

It sounds as if the planning was faulty to begin with. Who did the planning? They are the ones who should be responsible for the cost overrun. If they were county or state employees they should be fired. Who placed the fiber optic cable and why weren't they asked to provide the placement information?

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0 #2 Guest 2010-08-17 10:24

Those schools are so far out in the boonies that we are lucky the roads are paved.

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-11 #1 Guest 2010-08-17 07:49

The contractor who failed to provide a correct original estimate should pay for this. Why should WJCC and her taxpayers foot the bill for such a sloppy estimate?

Make the contractor pay.

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