The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
Water may not be to blame for the settling of light-rail tracks at the intersection of Brambleton Avenue and Second Street.
Don Lint, Hampton Roads Transit light-rail construction manager, said that once the tracks and the panels they are bolted to are removed next week, the agency will have a better idea of what went wrong.
On Tuesday, HRT officials said they thought flooding was the culprit. The area across from the Hague floods in unusually high tides.
Water "can play a role, but we're not sure it played a role in this," Lint said Wednesday.
He added that settling at the crossing has caused some movement of the tracks, which can be a cause of derailments.
Meanwhile, HRT President and CEO Philip Shucet said 10 other light- rail crossings built in the same way will be inspected for similar settling problems.
He said the project's $338 million budget includes ample contingency money to pay for the repairs. The track crossing, now on a ballasted base, will be replaced with tracks that are embedded, providing a more solid foundation at the intersection. It will cost $80,000 to $120,000.
Shucet also said the problem will not cause HRT to miss its July 17 deadline for finishing track construction downtown. In fact, he said, the work is still ahead of schedule.
The repair is expected to take two weeks. Brambleton traffic will not be affected, but Second Street will be closed.
"We're doing what we're supposed to do," Shucet said.
He said high water could be a problem for light- rail operations at times because the system was built at grade level, which is less expensive than an elevated system.
"There might be times in some areas trains cannot pass," he said. "A decision was made to build it at grade.... There will be certain things we'll have to deal with."
The light-rail trains are expected to start running in May 2011.
Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com
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Welcome to Springfield
I nominate Homer Simpson for the Light Rail Conductor and Bernie Madoff for accountant at HRT.
WE all know who the culprit is 'Pilot"...
What are YOU going to do about reporting it???? Hint.. the blinders are next to the shovels in the Horse stalls..LOL @ your pilot!!
The steel albatross
From the Pilot" The track crossing, now on a ballasted base, will be replaced with tracks that are embedded, providing a more solid foundation at the intersection. It will cost $80,000 to $120,000."
I have a great idea. Since Michael Townes is in breach of contract, I would suggest that HRT redirect the $179,683 salary/severance pay towards the costs of this repair. It's a shame that the board doesn't have the testicular fortitude to put this man in his place. Townes has for the most part given the one finger salute to the board as well as Phil Saucet. He must be related to Mayor Holley. If it were up to me he would be driving the MAX bus from Silverleaf to NOB at 5:30 AM every morning for starters. This is only the beginning of this mis-managed train wreck. As for that $338MIL - paraphrasing Ross Perot " You'll hear that giant sucking sound".
Light Rail Myths
http://www.americandreamcoalition.org/ADCFS1.pdf
Light rail myths debunked.
perfect
Let's go ahead and widen every road to around ten lanes. It's worked wonders in LA.
go figure
HRT and the city won't put the blame where it belongs. The new CEO himself said when he took the post that the cost of the studies and engineering far exceeded the cost of other similar projects nation wide.
These studies provided by firms that were hired to sell this project to the people. This is obvioulsy an engineering flaw that shouldn't have been missed. Most of the rail line is on the part of the city that was built up on marsh land and the river. Now in some cases the engineer is bound by the owners budget restrictions.And usually a contingency is reserved for un expected surge in material and labor costs, not a major design flaw. This leads me to believe that all of the studies and projections related to this project are flawed and unaccurate.
does anyone remember the pilings..
UNDER water at 'high tide'?? DUH Pilot again...
professional engineering
I guess the possibility of this happening is beyond the scope of what a professional engineering firm could have possibly predicted.
I have to wonder why the taxpayer is left holding the bag for something that clearly could have been predicted and prevented. I'd love to read the contracts. Better yet, I'd love to have a contract with the city, where I can fail but still get paid.
A December 19th Pilot article...
...showed the budget at that time was $326-$328 million. It has already gone up another 3.3% in 6 calendar months. Ahhh...the sweet savor of the liberal pipe dream!
Remind me why we didn't just expand & improve the ferry system.
The rivers are already "built", much easier to cross with a boat than to build a rail tunnel or bridge, and boats can still run when it floods. Hopefully that option will go back on the table before they extend this light rail line to the Naval Base.