Building Industry Magazine - September 2011 - (Page 46)

Feds Funding Guam Road Work BY FRANK WHITMAN The government of Guam’s Department of Public Works (DPW) is in the midst of spending about $246 million on highway projects throughout the island. Responding to a “use it or lose it” situation for much of the federal funding DPW has put together a program of nearly four dozen projects, 11 of which have been completed, 16 that are ongoing, with the remainder in the planning and design stages. Black Construction Co. workers install one of several 105-foot-long, 48-ton girders on the bridge over the Talofofo River on July 11. The $3.39 million project includes the replacement of the nearby bridge over the Togcha River in Ipan. Federal Oversight The aforementioned projects range from $137,000 for U-turn lane reconstruction on the island’s main thoroughfare – Route 1 in Tamuning – to $14.9 million to resurface about 4 miles of Route 4 leading out of Hagatna, to $66 million to upgrade the road adjacent to the future U.S. Marine base in Finegayan. The funding is a combination of lapsed annual Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) allocations, emergency relief funds, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds and Defense Access Roads funds. In 2007, the department and FHWA agreed to the Territorial Transportation Improvement Plan, by which DPW would administer the money under FHWA oversight. DPW began assembling its program management team and contracted Parsons Brinckerhoff for project design management, and then in early 2008 added Parsons Transportation Group (PTG) for construction compliance management. In addition to simply handling the volume of work involved, the role of the program management team is to ensure that work is compliant with FHWA standards — so that the federal government will pay for it. In order to do so, the team created a program that is FHWA compliant, according to Gene Niemasz, project manager for PTG. “That hadn’t been the case before,” he said. “(FHWA has) a lot of strings and requirements for reporting quality of construction and Gene Neimasz how you document all that stuff. So we wrote the construction manual; we wrote the policies and procedures for documentation and really set up the whole 46 | BUILDING INDUSTRY | SEPTEMBER 2011 program to be FHWA compliant.” A part of Parsons’ contract is to ensure that the program will continue past the expiration of its involvement, no later than 2013. “Our contract is to develop, implement and train, then step back,” Niemasz said. “We’re in the beginning of the stepping back period. That means DPW is robustly trained and they can run the program.” The company is increasing the number of locally hired staff and is conducting formal training for DPW personnel. It has made itself a resource for local construction management firms and contractors — ensuring familiarity with reporting and documentation procedures and requirements, offering modular computer training programs, visiting work sites and attending meetings. “We’ll put people wherever people are needed to make sure the program is a success,” Niemasz said.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Building Industry Magazine - September 2011

Building Industry Magazine Cover
Contents
Datebook
ABC Hawaii Appreciates Members
PV Installation Under Way on Hickam Homes
Hilton Project Reaches Major Milestone
FBI Building New Hawaii Office
Contracts Awarded
Belt Collins Wins Awards
Kauai
Concept to Completion: Wailua Cane Haul Bridge Widening
Local Firms Unveil Greenest Home in Hawaii
Civic Center Goes Net Zero
Inside the GCA
Center Park and Ride Facility
Guam
Best Practices
Low Bids
Developments in Industry Technology
News Makers
New Products

Building Industry Magazine - September 2011