TO:                  Mayor Edward “Bud” Caulfield

                                    And

                        Members of the Lowell City Council

FROM:            Bernard F. Lynch, City Manager

DATE:             February  15, 2008

RE:                   CC Motion of 01.15.08 by Councilor Rita Mercier

Chelmsford Street Construction Update (February, 2008)

The accelerated schedule was established by the Utility to complete the construction work prior to the end of 2007 and to help minimize disruptions to local businesses and residents. To accommodate our schedule, the construction contractor, Baltazar Contractors, Inc., performed an accelerated schedule of 10-hour work days, as well as working on some Saturdays. A City Council sub-committee working with area residents and businesses, the Contractor, Police and Fire Departments and our engineering consultant, CDM, was instrumental in helping to address and resolve local disruptions and concerns.

In addition to the expedited schedule, the project provided many construction challenges as it involved the installation of new large diameter drainage pipe (up to 60 inches in diameter) including:

• Coordination of the excavation work and relocation of many existing buried water mains, sewer mains and services, gas, telephone, and electrical conduits to provide room for the new drain. 
• Removal of significant quantities of the city’s old infrastructure including abandoned streetcar rails, ties, and cobblestones, which all required additional effort for excavation and disposal.
• Temporary bypasses to maintain existing sewer force mains along the route, and relocations of a force main due to a direct grade conflict with the new drain.
• Relatively deep excavations up to 18 feet deep for replacement of sewer mains and new drain pipes.
• Removal of rock and boulders encountered in the excavation that had to be drilled and rammed in order to remove them from the trench.

All of this excavation work eventually required most of the full-width of Chelmsford Street to be torn up.  Thus, the work required significant daily coordination to minimize disruptions to traffic and local access for residents and businesses. An overall traffic detour plan was coordinated with Lowell Police and Fire departments, and signage was provided to direct business customers around the construction activities.

Overall, the work completed by our contractor included the installation of:

• 2,900 feet of new mainline drain sized 12-inch to 60-inch diameter.      
• 2,400 feet of replacement water main sized 8-inch to 12-inch diameter.
• 1,000 feet of replacement sewer main sized 8-inch to 24-inch diameter.
• 18 catch basin installations, with connections to the new drain system.
• Construction of the 66-inch diameter River Meadow Brook Outfall and concrete headwall
• Temporary paving on all trenches.

While all of the pipe installation along Chelmsford Street is completed for this contract, final paving of Chelmsford Street is scheduled for Summer 2008 in order to provide time for the trench to settle.  Meanwhile, the contractor continues to maintain the temporary pavement that was installed for the winter, and will respond to any problems that might arise as a result of the work. 

Remaining contract work on adjacent side streets to Chelmsford Street will resume in March 2008, pending weather conditions. These include Newell Street, Wellman Street, Upham Street, Usher Street, Norcross Street, and Midland Street. 

Another portion of this contract work is in the Weed Street neighborhood including Gorham Street. Fay Street, Lundberg Street, Anderson Street, Stromquist Street, Corbett Street, Cosgrove Street, Bowden Street, and Chippewa Street.  This work should start in Spring 2008.

I hope this information is helpful.  If you have any questions, please let me know.  Thank you.