像其不断扩大的舰队of electric buses, the Utah Transit Authority’s project to build a 5.3-mile bus line in Ogden continues to shift gears.

The $120.5-million project has been in a state of flux since its March groundbreaking, as a severe materials and labor shortage constantly shifts delivery times and work orders. The Ogden/Weber State University Bus Rapid Transit line will link the Utah city’s downtown light-rail station with McKay-Dee Hospital via Weber State University. The route brings multiple stakeholders to the project, including the Federal Transit Administration and the city of Ogden as well as the hospital and the university.

WSU的大部分项目中的大部分部分，其一英里的公交车道和两个为28,000名学生提供服务的车站都在整个夏季完成。项目经理Maverick Gibbons在总承包商Stacy和Witbeck Inc.项目经理Maverick Gibbons说，校园部分的紧迫期限，物质要求和丘陵地点提出了独特的挑战。该地区的不同海拔需要大量的混凝土挡土墙，小路和楼梯。

“It’s probably more stairs than I have ever built in my entire career,” Gibbons says.

Crews worked six or seven days a week on campus throughout the summer to finish the landscaping and concrete placement and build two bus stations, multiple plazas and a duck pond. The heaviest work on this part of the project needed to be completed for fall 2021 classes. “We had three months to essentially demolish all [the outside areas] of central campus and then build it back,” Gibbons says.

As the project progressed, its scope and costs grew, pushing back the opening date by a year.
Image courtesy of Utah Transit Authority

On the Road

Stacy and Witbeck joined the project in late 2019, back when UTA planned a smaller, $101-million effort. But the project ended up expanding by a third, requiring more funding and pushing back its opening date by a year.

“The more people got interested, the more they wanted,” Gibbons says.

除了大学,项目团队有四个other major stakeholders to consider. Much of the route covers roads owned by either the Utah Dept. of Transportation or the city of Ogden. One of the new stations sits at McKay-Dee Hospital’s entrance, and construction activity can drastically affect its operations. The 50-ft-long bus stations add an artistic flair to the project, Gibbons says, with metal canopies and precast concrete columns designed to mimic the mountain cliffs.

The bus line will include a new station at McKay-Dee Hospital, requiring some demolition work and careful planning so the project doesn’t disrupt hospital operations.
Image courtesy of Utah Transit Authority

Construction also began before the project had acquired all of the most desirable rights-of-way, says Andrea Pullos, UTA project manager of capital construction.

“We’re trying to make sure the contractor can keep working in a logical and efficient manner,” Pullos says. “For a few months, it looked like touch and go, but we’re there now. Working with an existing footprint and existing buildings is always a challenge.”

Quarterly meetings offer contractors additional financial awards for jobs well done, such as the extensive demolition to make way for new stations and bus lanes.
Image courtesy of Utah Transit Authority

To encourage the UTA to acquire the best properties, Gibbons says the construction team located $100,000 that could be saved by added efficiency and kept everyone updated on its progress.

“We actually paid the owner to get properties ahead of schedule,” he says. “It really got the right-of-way acquisition group engaged. They felt like they were winning awards. Every week we opened the meeting with, ‘We’ve got this property here, and that’s another $5,000-$10,000 saved.’” The strategy yielded about $50,000 in savings.

激励措施也有其他方式：Stacy和Witbeck获得了100,000美元的利润率，并将其与另外100,000美元的匹配UTA货币相结合。利益相关者使用这些资金持有季度午餐，并通过经济激励措施将成绩单交付给承包商。

“Based on what scores you get, you get money back,” Gibbons says. “We call it our performance reviews. It’s not just the client, but it’s the city, state, university and hospital telling us what they like and what we can do better. It’s kind of a different way to do partnering—more intimate, and it’s very candid.”

The project itself remains on track for an August 2023 opening and is about a third completed, Gibbons says. Flexibility is key to overcoming challenges with traffic, materials and labor. “We’ve touched every piece of this route, but there’s nothing 100% complete.”

购买该项目所需的7,000立方英尺的混凝土仍然是一个挑战。许多安置必须提前一周订购，并且候补名单很常见。
Image courtesy of Utah Transit Authority

Concrete Ideas

For Paul Franzen, work on the bus line project has been a juggling act.

The president of ACME Construction helps procure and place the project’s 7,000 cu yd of concrete, a task complicated by constant material shortages. ACME is about halfway through the concrete portion of the project and continues to contend with difficulties finding enough manpower and concrete.

“Before COVID, we could call the day before or even the day of the job and say we need concrete at a certain time—no problem,” Franzen says. “Now we have to order concrete a week in advance, and there’s a waiting list.”

Typically, a crew can place four loads of concrete a day, Franzen adds, but due to material shortages his crews can end up placing one load a day or one load every other day.

“One time we were on Washington Boulevard doing concrete pavement,” he recalls. “We had asphalt scheduled for next day. Everything was lined up. Then we ran into last-minute engineering changes after we set the form. We couldn’t get the concrete we needed to adjust, and it ended up adding extra days to the schedule.”

Organization is key, says Franzen, who also points to the hard work of concrete supplier Jack B. Parson Ready Mix. Sometimes if the available concrete runs short, the team will shift a delivery to another location to keep the work going.

Construction began before the project team had acquired all of the most desirable rights-of-way, prompting the team to develop creative incentives to get the best properties and most efficient corridors.
Image courtesy of Utah Transit Authority

但是转移交付可能会导致其他问题。WSU为其项目的一部分选择了帕森专有混合物，该混凝土由于该地区的冻结周期而更耐用且能够抵抗开裂。弗朗森说：“如果我们订购混合物，然后最终进入其他不需要的地方，那会增加另一个变量。”

Using American-made concrete is another top priority for a project partially funded by the Federal Transit Administration, Gibbons says. “Utah has three cement suppliers. One shut down and one caught fire and was down for months, so we were down to one-third of our cement allowance.”

Despite the challenges, Gibbons credits the project’s continued momentum to strong partnerships among the stakeholders, owner and contractor as well as the 26 subcontractors involved. “You would think with five stakeholders, and four of them not the client, they’re going to want stuff for free. You would think that would be super challenging,” Gibbons says. “But everybody worked together well. If it wasn’t for all the COVID-related issues, this would be a pretty smooth project.”