By Mark Waite
Wulfenstein Construction was granted five change orders on the Blagg Road repair project raising the cost $57,083 and extending the contract through the end of August.
The original bid specifications called for the work to be carried out between April 16 and June 30.
Wulfenstein Construction was awarded a $2.36 million contract April 17 to remove and replace backfill for trench work on Blagg Road from Basin Avenue to 479 feet north of Adkisson Street. The change orders hike the cost to $2.4 million.
The bulk of the increased cost, $44,602, was blamed on repairing an unmarked, unknown, 15-inch irrigation line owned by the Pahrump Dairy breached on May 15 during normal excavation of the trench four feet below the surface.
A report from Wulfenstein said they performed due diligence before the construction to review any plans, USA dig alerts and planned to locate existing utility lines by potholing.
A dairy employee came to tell a construction crew flagger about the irrigation line after they were working in the area for a week and requested to speak to Bryan Wulfenstein, but was impatient and didn’t have time to wait.
Five minutes later, the crews hit the line and filled the trench with a mixture of water and manure. Two other irrigation lines have been identified by dairy workers that will be located by pot holding prior to excavation, Wulfenstein states.
Two change orders for $7,740 were added for prep work, repair work and installation of missing pipe zone material at two locations. Emergency road repairs for a failed trench at the intersection of Blagg Road and Irene Street will cost another $4,741.
Wulfenstein Construction was also awarded $16,059 for six change orders of the Highway 160 and Homestead Road improvement project. That was a $3.177 million project.
The change orders are for installing 96 feet of hand rail at the Maverik Store due to a difference in grade; removing a small section on the Maverik parking lot and bringing it into compliance for handicapped access; shortening a bracket and reinstalling traffic light poles; adjusting a fire hydrant, sewer manhole and phone box.
There is also a change order to reflect final installed quantities of material for $22,241, of which $6,181 is already budgeted in the contingency fund.
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- Horace Langford Jr. / Pahrump Valley Times – A cut utility line from the nearby dairy added additional costs to the Blagg Road project. County commissioners approved five change orders for a total of $57,000 on Tuesday.
So what was manure doing in an irrigation line?
“Two other irrigation lines have been identified by dairy workers that will be located by pot holding prior to excavation, Wulfenstein states.”
I believe it should read potholing not “pot holding”
I had a pool put in and the area was checked for water lines and power lines. Thats what “Call before you dig” is all about. That company got paid too much money for what it contracted to do imho. Let them pay for the damage..they caused it by digging before they knew it was clear! Now they are holding up traffic and buisiness because they want to blame somebody else to get more of our tax money. They sure know how to milk a system.
Public utility “call before you dig” services only mark lines of owners/operators of the utility lines who are registered with the call service. Private lines, like it appears these were, usually are not located and marked by the call service. I am assuming that is why they were potholing to find any private lines. They could have had a private utility locate done but they are pricey and depending on the type of lines, may not have pinpointed the lines.
Honor your contract Construction Company
THE MANURE IN THE LINE IS FOR THE FIELDS. THEY MIX MANURE AND WATER 1 TO RID THEM SELVES OF MANURE. COWS MAKE A LOT OF OT. 2 FERTILIZES THEIR FIELDS WITH THE MANURE CUTTING DOWN ON CHEMICAL COSTS AND BEING BETTER FOR THE COWS AND US WITH FEWER CHEMICALS. I WAS GOING TO TELL YOU A STORY ABOUT DOMESTIC WATER LINE WITH A HOLE IN IT BEING EXPOSED TO MANURE. BUT DECIDED THE TRUTH WAS BETTER
Call before you dig is a farce as far as I see it. I called and I had the electrical and telephone people show up as well as a Utilities Inc. person. The phone & electrical folks did a good job of locating and marking their delivery systems. The water guy………. We don’t have a thing to do with this. You are not on city water so we have nothing to do here.