The Marshall County Commissioners received an update on two major construction projects in the county from USI’s Bart Trester. Trester is the project manager of the 7th Road and the Metronet projects.
Trester explained that unsuitable soils are being removed from portions of the 7th Road project. The soils were found in different locations in the project and weren’t detected in soil borings conducted prior to the project. The removal of the soils was quite costly. The commissioners approved a change order of over $500,000 at a previous meeting to meet that requirement. Crews are borrowing suitable soils between Lilac Road and Seltenright Ditch.
Trester said the bridge work over the Seltenright Ditch has started but the pile driving process is slowing progress.
“We’re having pile driving issues due to sandy soil conditions,” said Trester. “A few of the piles have been driven double the planned depth and have not met the requirements for bearing at this time. I think what’s happened is we got down into some wet, sandy soil materials and as you drive the pile it liquifies the soil so it makes bearing hard to get. Each time you hit the pile with a hammer it’s going down further than anticipated. There’s been other issues with that with bridges around this area. We’re talking with INDOT on that and trying to get it resolved.”
He said the planned depth was 58 feet and two of them are at 90 feet and another is at 120 feet. Trester added that he’s never seen anything like this.
Trester advised that the Metronet project is moving along with the installation of conduit.
“From Hoosier Tire to South Bend, about halfway between there, INDOT’s got a project going on and they’ve told us to hold off working in that area until they get certain things done. Plow crews came in and they started at that INDOT site and worked south. Now they’re just south of Lakeville. They’ve installed approximately 36,000 feet at this time. For the city of Plymouth, they’ve started work and installed approximately 11,000 feet at this time.”
There have been some issues with utility marking and those will be resolved soon. The rain has also slowed progress, but Trester is anticipating that the project will be done in November.
