Cianbro assures state bridge work free of trouble

VERONA ISLAND – The kinds of concrete problems that have affected the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland and forced an estimated $7 million in additional repairs to the structure will not be a worry for Maine transportation officials on the new bridge being built across the Penobscot River, according to the general contractor for both projects.

Pittsfield-based Cianbro Corp. is the general contractor for the deck repair project on two-mile section bay bridge that began in 2002. Cianbro also formed a joint venture with Reed & Reed Inc. of Woolwich to build the new $84 million bridge linking the towns of Prospect and Verona Island.

Cracks appeared in the new concrete surface of the bay bridge in 2003, forcing the contractor to resurface sections of two lanes of the bridge.

“They are totally different projects,” Cianbro President Pete Vigue said Thursday. “The conditions, the circumstances, the materials are all different.”

State transportation officials said Thursday that the process developed for the new bridge construction takes into account contingencies for weather and other issues and that they expect the project to move ahead without issue.

“We have every confidence that the Cianbro/Reed & Reed LLC will meet the levels of quality assurance we have specified for this project,” Deputy Transportation Commissioner Bruce Van Note said Thursday.

High traffic volumes in Maryland and pressures to ease the impact on the traveling public required that the work be done during off-season.

The circumstances surrounding the new Waldo-Hancock bridge minimize the risk of problems developing with the concrete, including the fact that crews can work year round on the bridge and that work areas on the bridge have been enclosed, Vigue said.

“The concrete pours are totally enclosed,” he said. “We’ve built little houses over the pours, and temperatures are maintained.”

The fact that they are pouring large amounts of concrete also minimizes the possibility of problems developing, he said, noting that crews have seen “tremendous results” so far.

“The risk associated with the pours in that situation are minimal or nonexistent,” he said. “We’ve eliminated the risks by enclosing the area, heating it, and maintaining the temperature in the structure.”

Crews also install probes during each pour so that they can monitor quality issues as the concrete cures.

The Maine Department of Transportation knew quality control was a big issue in this project and had developed processes to ensure high quality.

“We’ve built into the process the fact that we’d be dealing with frigid Maine temperatures, so the process includes requirements and methods to make sure we can meet those quality control standards,” Morris said.

“And when the temperatures, as they were a few weeks ago, are such that we can’t do that, we simply delay the pour. There’s a certain amount of that built into the schedule.”

Work is on schedule for the new bridge, which is expected to be completed by fall 2006. Although unsubstantiated rumors have pushed the cost of construction as high as $100 million, officials said Thursday that the contract price of $83.8 million has not changed.

Some reports, Morris said, have combined the construction costs with initial estimates of $12 million for removal of the existing Waldo-Hancock Bridge, the $4 million it cost to add new reinforcing cables to the existing bridge, plus the initial work done on that bridge to reach the $100 million figure.

Meanwhile, Vigue stressed that Cianbro and the Maryland Transportation Authority, which operates the bay bridge, still have a positive relationship and are working together to complete the repairs. Cianbro is the low, and only, bidder for the second phase of repairs on the bay bridge, a separate project for which the contract has not yet been awarded.

“We’re about working to find solutions and not trying to lay blame anywhere,” Vigue said.

In a release that accompanied a press conference in Maryland Thursday, company officials tried to make sure Cianbro wasn’t blamed for the problems. A 61-page independent report released last week, without naming names, seemed to point the finger at the contractor.

That report identified several reasons for the problems with the concrete including improperly mixed concrete, inadequate preparation of the underlying surface, and misuse of the epoxy bonding agent.

Although Cianbro Mid-Atlantic Region Vice President Mike Hart said the company generally concurred with the findings in the report, he said it was important to clarify some issues in the document.

Hart itemized six items identified in the report and indicated that the company had followed the MdTA’s specifications during the entire project, also saying during a Thursday press conference that Cianbro had warned Maryland officials that some of the specifications were incorrect.

“We bid the project per the contract specifications and have performed all work under the direction and approval of the MdTA,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.