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1 RICHMOND-SAN RAFAEL BRIDGE
2 SEISMIC RETROFIT PROJECT
3 CONTRACTOR'S INFORMATION SESSION
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12 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
13 OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
14 JULY 12, 1999
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21 ATKINSON-BAKER, INC. CERTIFIED SHORTHAND REPORTERS
22 5 Third Street, Suite 625 San Francisco, California 94103
23 (800) 288-3376
24 REPORTED BY: SHARON LANCASTER, CSR #5468
25 FILE NO.: 9916495
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1 RICHMOND-SAN RAFAEL BRIDGE
2 SEISMIC RETROFIT PROJECT
3 CONTRACTOR'S INFORMATION SESSION
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11 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS, taken at
12 Caltrans District 4 Auditorium, 111 Grand Avenue,
13 Oakland, California, commencing at 1:10 p.m.,
14 Monday, July 12, 1999, before Sharon Lancaster, CSR
15 No. 5468.
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1 MONDAY, JULY 12, 1999 OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
2 1:10 P.M.
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4 MR. TERPSTRA: Please take your seats.
5 Good afternoon. My name is Ken Terpstra,
6 project manager on this project.
7 And what we do now is take up some
8 time this afternoon to answer some of your
9 questions. I have a number of yellow cards. And if
10 you have more, you can simply just walk them up to
11 me, and I'll take them and read them, and the court
12 reporter will type them. And then I'll turn to the
13 appropriate person or panel member up here.
14 Maybe we should introduce our panel.
15 Do you all want to introduce yourselves? That might
16 be a good idea. Let's do that.
17 MR. MULLIGAN: Thanks, Ken. I'm Denis
18 Mulligan. I work for Caltrans. I'm the manager for
19 the Toll Bridge Program.
20 MR. DAHLGREN: Thomas Dahlgren, with Ben
21 C. Gerwick.
22 MR. EBERLE: John Eberle, construction
23 manager for Caltrans.
24 MR. VINCENT: John Vincent, with Ben C.
25 Gerwick.
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1 MS. KOUYATE: Tess Kouyate, with
2 CH2M-HIll.
3 MR. PARIS: I'm John Paris, with
4 CH2M-Hill.
5 MR. SUN: Shawn Sun. I'm the structural
6 contract manager working for Caltrans.
7 MR. LI: Odeon Li from Sverdrup.
8 MR. CORVEN: John Corven from DMJM.
9 MR. RICHARDSON: I'm Ron Richardson. I'm
10 the structural consultant project manager for the
11 project.
12 MR. TERPSTRA: And as I said, I'm Ken
13 Terpstra. I get to hand out the questions.
14 Let me start with a few, as we call
15 it, "big picture questions" that I'm going to ask
16 you to answer, Denis. And I know it's probably on
17 everyone's mind.
18 How much is the engineers' estimate
19 for this bid? Hold on.
20 If the low bidder is higher than the
21 engineers' estimate, will the job be awarded?
22 And thirdly: Is there a limit to the
23 overrun of the engineers' estimate at which the job
24 will not be awarded?
25 MR. MULLIGAN: Thanks, Ken.
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1 Caltrans is in the process of
2 revising the engineers' estimate as we speak. The
3 estimate is more than 300 million dollars and less
4 than 400 million dollars.
5 When we advertise the project in the
6 middle of August, we will post the engineers'
7 estimate at that time based on the revision which is
8 currently underway in the unit prices.
9 We anticipate that when we open bids,
10 we will award this contract. It is a public safety
11 project, and so we will have sufficient funds
12 authorized to award the contract.
13 We recognize that when we advertised
14 a year ago, the engineers' estimates were low. We
15 have gone through cost savings exercises and we have
16 gone out and obtained the necessary funding to
17 ensure that this work can proceed. So I wish to
18 allay any concerns that you may have.
19 MR. TERPSTRA: Next question.
20 With the advertised/bid dates of 8/16
21 and 12 whatever, how will this interface with the
22 schedules for the Carquinez Bridge and the trestle
23 expansion on the San Mateo Bridge?
24 MR. MULLIGAN: As the projects are
25 currently scheduled, there is approximately one
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1 month between the bid openings, but the schedules
2 are subject to change. As it's currently scheduled,
3 the San Mateo-Hayward trestle widening,
4 approximately five miles of precast concrete bridge,
5 will be advertised at the end of this month, with
6 the bid opening in early October.
7 The Carquinez Bridge is scheduled to
8 advertise in August. We are going through some
9 design issues that have arisen with respect to the
10 south tower. As it's currently envisioned, that bid
11 opening will be in early November.
12 The Richmond-San Rafael will then be in
13 early December, as it's currently set up. There is
14 about one month between each bid opening for these
15 large projects.
16 MR. TERPSTRA: Will there be minority
17 participation goals?
18 MR. MULLIGAN: This project will comply
19 with all applicable laws and regulations. Under
20 current law, there will be a three percent disabled
21 veteran goal on this project. There are no federal
22 funds on this project, so the federal goals will not
23 apply. Barring any change in law, we only
24 anticipate a three percent disabled veteran goal at
25 this point in time.
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1 MR. TERPSTRA: Question for Mr. Eberle.
2 What is the construction period for this contract?
3 MR. EBERLE: This is going to be a
4 calendar day project, not a working day project, and
5 it will be 1,170 calendar days.
6 MR. TERPSTRA: And John, another one for
7 you.
8 Will temporary bridges be allowed if not
9 enough time during the night closures, I take it,
10 for removal and replacement of the low level
11 trestle?
12 MR. EBERLE: If "temporary bridge" is
13 referred to as a temporary structure that the
14 traffic will then be allowed to be placed upon in
15 lieu of putting the precast member all in one night,
16 the specs right now do not preclude that; so, yes,
17 that will be allowed.
18 If "temporary bridge" refers to a
19 temporary trestle, on the concrete trestle portion,
20 a temporary trestle is only allowed between the two
21 existing structures. Temporary trestle on the
22 exterior of the concrete trestle is not allowed.
23 MR. TERPSTRA: And here is a question for
24 you, Odeon.
25 What percent of steel will have to be
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1 custom measured and fabricated piece by piece? And
2 maybe you just want to talk a little bit about that,
3 what you envision.
4 MR. LI: All of the steel on the existing
5 structure has to be custom measured. On the plans
6 the dimensions are from the shop plans, so the
7 contractor has to work out the dimensions.
8 MR. TERPSTRA: Then there is a question:
9 Who is the contact person or what is the department
10 at Chevron?
11 Caltrans is currently negotiating
12 with Chevron, Inc. to obtain the Temporary
13 Construction Easement for the barge load out area at
14 the east end of the bridge. Project plans will
15 delineate the available area. Should the
16 contractors be looking for additional access or
17 staging areas, they may contact Chevron, Inc., at
18 the following address: Chevron Products Company
19 P.O. Box 1272
20 Richmond, CA 94802-0627
21 Attention: Scott Moore.
22 Now, I have three questions for John
23 Vincent. And John also has a list of questions,
24 since there were a lot of questions about the micro-
25 pile. So I'm going to ask you these questions, and
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1 then you can read your own.
2 MR. VINCENT: Okay.
3 MR. TERPSTRA: What is the design criteria
4 for the temporary structures?
5 I think what we're talking about is
6 the temporary structures when you take out the
7 members, is what I'm thinking. We talked about this
8 earlier.
9 MR. VINCENT: As far as the steel towers
10 goes, the requirements are on the plans. The plans
11 show the dead weights coming from the superstructure
12 and the lateral loads that the existing towers must
13 resist. They were taken from the original as-built
14 plans. Our intent is that the contractor maintain
15 the existing load-carrying capacity of the
16 structure.
17 All the loads you need are on the
18 plans, except you will have to add construction
19 loads, and wind loads directly on your shoring
20 systems. Most of the information is on the plans.
21 MR. TERPSTRA: And then, John: Will third
22 party inspection be required for all welding on and
23 off site?
24 MR. VINCENT: Well, obviously, welding is
25 very important to us. Quality control-quality
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1 assurance requirements are spelled out in a lot of
2 detail in the special provisions. The contractor
3 will be required to perform the quality control, and
4 the engineer will have the ability to go in and do
5 and assurance.
6 MR. TERPSTRA: I have one more before you
7 turn to your own, either for you or John Corven.
8 Are there corrosion inhibitors required in
9 precast segments? If not, why not, for longer life?
10 Both precast segments and tremie concrete.
11 MR. VINCENT: Well, I can comment the
12 precast pile caps and the concrete jackets. We took
13 great care in developing the concrete mixes for
14 those elements. They have special proportions of
15 silica fume and other items to ensure that we don't
16 get corrosion of the steel. You probably have
17 noticed that we're not using epoxy coated reinforced
18 steel in the jackets or the pile caps.
19 In the case of tremie concrete, say,
20 for locking the two pile caps together, there is an
21 anti-washout mixture to ensure a good quality
22 concrete.
23 And I can add that for the concrete
24 jackets in the splash zone, we will also require a
25 polyuria coating.
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1 MR. TERPSTRA: That's all the questions I
2 have up here. I know, John, you have a handful of
3 them about various subjects. I think Thomas, you
4 have one, too. So go ahead and take it, John.
5 MR. VINCENT: Let me just read these.
6 There are several that deal with micropiling.
7 The first question: Is the micro-
8 pile outer casing a permanent structural element or
9 may it be removed?
10 The outer casing which is placed
11 below the existing pile cap, into which the pipe
12 reinforcement is placed, is a permanent element; it
13 shall remain in place. That's the way it's been
14 designed, so it's intended to be there.
15 Second question is: What skin
16 friction, psi, pull out force may be assigned to the
17 micropile structural element with the added shear
18 rings?
19 Typically, the skin friction that was
20 used for the pipe reinforcement in the rock was 51
21 psi. The additional friction that can be assigned
22 to the shear rings in the rock socket, and also the
23 shear rings and grooving in the pile cap itself,
24 were taken from API RP (2)(a).
25 If Gerwick performed the micropile
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1 design specification with no alternatives, why is
2 the liability for the design given to the contractor
3 by having the contractor design the rock socket
4 length?
5 There are performance test piles
6 required for this project. There is five locations
7 where the contractor will have to perform
8 performance pile tests.
9 These are non-production micropiles
10 that provide an opportunity for you to demonstrate
11 your construction methods and verify the rock socket
12 lengths assumed in your bid. If it's determined
13 that the rock socket lengths can be shortened or
14 they have to be lengthened, that adjustment will
15 take place before you start the production piles.
16 There is a mechanism in the special provisions for
17 doing that.
18 Why must the micropiles be grouted in
19 two stages? Is the liability for performance rocket
20 socket length (see No. 3 above) the contractor's?
21 Again, you're going to be doing
22 performance pile testing to verify your construction
23 methods and also to confirm that your system is
24 capable of developing the loads that are shown on
25 the plans.
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1 Again, the performance test
2 micropiles will be used to make any adjustments that
3 are necessary prior to proceeding with the
4 production piles.
5 As far as the two-stage grouting
6 goes, as Thomas mentioned in his presentation, the
7 first micropile that's installed at a pier will be
8 tested, and a second will be randomly chosen for
9 testing. So we only want the first stage grout to
10 go in, so that the R.E. can randomly pick one
11 additional pile for testing. Obviously, we can't
12 test a pile if you've already put in the second
13 stage grout. That is the reason for two-stage
14 grouting.
15 Next question: Must the 14-inch
16 diameter core drilled through the belled pier for
17 the micropile installation be grooved, or can an
18 alternative method be used?
19 The plans require the grooving.
20 Unlike the rock sockets, which will be tested, we do
21 not have the ability to actually test the connection
22 between the micropile and the belled pier. So we
23 will require the grooving.
24 This question makes reference to
25 sheet 4 of 31, titled "Two bell pier - micropile
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1 retrofit No. 1" sheet.
2 The note on the drawing (top
3 right-hand corner) could be read to suggest that if
4 "H" piles are encountered during drilling for the
5 14-inch core hole, that would be the contractor's
6 problem. Is this the intention?
7 The intent of the note is to bring to
8 your attention that there will be reinforcements
9 that you'll be coring through. Coring through
10 reinforcements in the concrete bells is expected and
11 will be tolerated.
12 If there should be an errant "H" pile
13 and your coring equipment encounters it, that will
14 be considered a changed condition. If it's a
15 battered pile, one of the solutions will be to
16 continue coring through the "H" pile. If it's a
17 vertical "H" pile -- which in most cases it won't --
18 but if were, that would be more problematic and it
19 may require relocation of the micropile.
20 This question regards micropiles and
21 has to do with the definition of "cleaning."
22 There is a requirement for cleaning
23 the bells. Primarily, it is to remove organic
24 material before the steel casings are put on and
25 grouted.
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1 We do realize that the specifications
2 lack a good definition of how clean is "clean." Our
3 intent was that cleaning be performed with either
4 abrasive equipment or high pressure water. The
5 intent, again, is to remove the majority of the
6 organic growth.
7 We realized that some marine growth,
8 calcareous, shelly material, can get to the point
9 where it adheres so tightly to the concrete that it
10 takes, an excessive amount of effort to remove it.
11 It is not our intent that this material be removed.
12 I think you will find in the near future that there
13 will be a clarification to help you know what we
14 will define as "clean."
15 There is a question about the
16 cathodic protection system. It says: Is the
17 cathodic protection system designed to protect the
18 new steel casing? If so, where are the bonding
19 strap welds?
20 The cathodic protection system used
21 uses an aluminum anode. The strap that is used to
22 attach the anode to the steel casing is cast with
23 the anode. The casing has welded studs that will be
24 protected from flame sprayed plastic used to attach
25 the anode. So your electrical connection is made
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1 between the strapping that's cast with the anode and
2 the steel studs that are welded to the casing.
3 The fourth question says: We need
4 current info on the bridge.
5 MR. MULLIGAN: We have a link from the
6 toll program Web site to a NOAA web site, Coast
7 Guard Web site and other Web sites. The Corps of
8 Engineers has a model of Sausalito. There is also
9 tidal information published through a variety of
10 sources that you can purchase.
11 It is an area where we have scour
12 protection in place so there are high volume, high
13 velocity currents. And there are rather extreme
14 fluctuations in tides. And that's all information
15 that's available in the public realm.
16 MR. SUN: I want to add one thing on
17 the micropile issue. Now, what you have seen
18 regarding the construction sequencing for micropile
19 is for the truss foundations. At the east approach
20 structure, there are 282 micropiles.
21 The outer casing is a half-inch thick
22 temporary casing, which can be removed after grout
23 placement in rock socket before grout hardening.
24 MR. TERPSTRA: It turns out I have a
25 few more here; you know, some that were written on
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1 the back.
2 John Paris, this is for you.
3 Will Caltrans obtain permits for
4 dredge materials? (A) ordinary for water disposal;
5 (B) rock for upland; (c) contaminated for upland?
6 Would you talk about dredging just in
7 general?
8 MR. PARIS: Sure. The permits have
9 already been obtained from the various agencies for
10 the dredging and aquatic disposal operation we'll be
14 MR. TERPSTRA: Do the dredging
15 quantities given include an allowance for cleanup
16 dredging?
17 MR. PARIS: The dredging quantities
18 that were provided to the permitting agencies are a
19 maximum, and the contractor will be required to
20 conduct all of those activities within that maximum
21 allowable quantity.
22 MR. TERPSTRA: And then, Shawn, would
23 you say a few things about the rivets being removed
24 and replaced with bolts.
25 MR. SUN: Some of the existing rivets
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1 will be removed and replaced with high strength
2 bolts. As I said in my presentation truss spans,
3 there are over a quarter million rivets that will be
4 removed and replaced with high strength bolts.
5 There are also rivets that will be
6 removed in the approach structures and in the steel
7 towers.
8 MR. TERPSTRA: Then Odeon: Does the
9 bridge have lead paint? And how will its removal be
10 handled and paid for?
11 MR. LI: Yes, the bridge has lead
12 paint. Right now it's covered and paid for in two
13 items. One is spot blast clean and undercoat.
14 Another is work area monitoring.
15 MR. TERPSTRA: And then John Eberle: Can
16 Caltrans obtain staging areas within Chevron rather
17 than the contractor, as was stated?
18 MR. EBERLE: On the east side, where
19 Chevron is located, we are currently working on
20 obtaining a temporary construction easement. If we
21 do secure that, we will clearly spell that out on
22 the Web or in future updates.
23 MR. TERPSTRA: Thanks. That's all the
24 questions. Does anyone else have a question they
25 want to ask from the floor or turn me in a card?
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1 Otherwise -- I'll pause for a moment, see if there
2 are any.
3 I think with that, Denis, I'm just
4 going to ask you to come up and maybe say a couple
5 closing remarks.
6 MR. MULLIGAN: Couple items. One, thanks
7 for coming today. When you received a package when
8 you came in, it was pointed out it is missing a
9 couple of sheets on the steel erection. Those
10 sheets have been produced, they are available in
11 back. You can pick them up on your way out. We
12 apologize. They were left out of the original
13 printing.
14 We look forward to all of you
15 participating in this project. Once again, it will
16 be advertised on August 16th. Once we advertise the
17 project, we have a mechanism for you to communicate
18 and ask questions via the Web. And our duty senior,
19 who was not introduced earlier, standing at the
20 back, Sarah Picker, will be the point of contact.
21 She is currently the person that handles the bidding
22 inquiries on the other toll projects and arranges
23 all the tours on the west span of the Bay Bridge.
24 So once again, thanks again for
25 coming today. We hope this was informative and
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1 worth your while. We look forward to seeing you in
2 the future. Thank you.
3 (Ending time: 1:40 p.m.)
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