FORT WAYNE – The Allen County commissioners have approved $1.5 million in additional expenses for the Maplecrest Road extension project and cautioned that more cost changes are likely.
Highway Director Bill Hartman told the commissioners Friday he hoped this was the worst of the change orders. But Commissioner Linda Bloom, who focuses on highway work, said to expect more cost increases.
“We’re not even on water yet,” Bloom said.
Allen County is known for its unpredictable soil conditions, a problem that has plagued other road projects and the construction of the Allen County Juvenile Center, she said.
The county also has never built a bridge the size that will span the Maumee River. She told the other commissioners to be prepared for more change orders especially as crews begin to dig pilings into the river bottom.
Construction was supposed to cost $28.7 million, well below the engineer’s estimates of $44 million. When finished, Maplecrest will be extended from Lake Avenue to Adams Center Road in New Haven.
The commissioners grilled Hartman and project engineer Mike Wenning with American Structurepoint over the large cost increases.
The approved changes were needed to remove poor soil and the remains of a decades-old dump found on the south side of the Maumee River.
A solid base is necessary for the integrity of the road, Wenning said.
Other approved changes will pay for a new stormwater pipe to carry runoff from the city’s biosolids fields on the north side of the river. Additional fencing is needed to keep Rivergreenway users out of the construction zone. And buoys in the river are needed to keep boaters out of the construction area.
Change orders are more likely to be needed during utility relocation, earthwork and to install river pilings.
Building the bridge and laying the road surface becomes more predictable and should have less risk of change orders, Hartman said.
Commissioner Nelson Peters said he considered voting against future expenses if they exceed 10 percent of the contracted construction cost. But that could eliminate the federal funding that is helping to pay for the project, he said.
“I feel like I’m being held hostage,” Peters said.
And Commissioner Bill Brown wanted reassurance that the construction contractor, Primco, wasn’t trying to make more money from the county by raising prices after winning the bid.
Hartman and Wenning said if engineers had known about the existence of the dump, removal of the trash and fill dirt would have been included in the bid documents.
In other business, the commissioners adopted a revised employee handbook, which reflects new and revised county personnel policies since the last book was last published in 2001.
The handbook will also eliminate the county’s early-retirement incentive program for all new county employees beginning July 1.
It will remain for current employees.
Peters said eliminating the program will save money.
Since the program began in May 2006, the county has spent about $467,000 for 42 participants, according to the auditor’s office.
