River Park Road Repair
By Brenda Stoeck
In February 2013, a concerned resident brought to the Board of Directors’ (BOD)
attention the soil beneath the river park road was being washed away. This was due in
large part to clogged culverts not allowing runoff to drain during heavy rains. After
further investigation, two other areas were found that could potentially have the same
problem. This issue was NOT related to the previous road repair done in 2012 where
sections of asphalt were removed and replaced with reinforced concrete. These were
completely different areas.
The road was closed until the BOD could get an engineer onsite to make an inspection
and report on the road’s safety. Once the engineer inspected the road, he determined
it was safe for normal vehicular traffic. However, he recommended no large
commercial trucks or equipment use the road until it was repaired. At that time a sign
was posted warning residents to proceed with caution. Cones were also placed on the
road to prevent cars from driving directly over the washed out area. The BOD is always
concerned about the safety and security of its residents. At no time was the safety of
our property owners in jeopardy. If the road had been deemed unsafe, it would have
remained closed until the repair work was completed.
Repairing the road involved more than just clearing out the culverts and backfilling the
washed out area. Such minimal repair would not have slowed the large amount of
water and its velocity, which was the cause of the problem. The engineer’s report
provided three options for the repair with option one being the minimum that should be
done. Each additional option would help to reduce the flow and velocity of the water
and aid in keeping erosion to a minimum. The BOD voted to have all three options done
now rather than run the risk of this problem happening again in the near future. This
project will be paid from money set aside in the Reserve Fund. It will NOT be paid from
the operating budget.
Here are Sun Belt Engineers’ recommendations:
Option 1:
Saw cut the existing road and side slope that has already been washed out.
Remove all loose material, compact existing, re-pour with bulk concrete; leaving the top
6” of the road to be reinforced with steel rebar. The side slope should be doweled into
the existing rock in the stream bed with rebar. Then pour bulk concrete to the top 4”
and reinforce with rebar.
Option 2:
Clean out silted upstream bed about 150’ upstream approximately to bottom of
the existing 12” pipe, by 40’ wide x 2’ deep. Clean out pipe. Pour miscellaneous
concrete rip-rap on upstream side slope of road. Place miscellaneous boulders in
stream bed to slow down velocity of water.
Option 3:
Add 3 additional pipes to increase capacity. Add concrete rip-rap around pipes.
After approving all three options, a request for bids was submitted. It is the policy of
the BOD to obtain at least three bids, if possible, per our procurement policy below.
“When the projected purchase amount for capital expenditures exceeds $10,000 then a
Request for Bid from three (3) vendors shall be required. If less than 3 vendors respond then
document this fact and with names of vendors and accept the best bid.”
The procurement policy can be found on the River Chase website under documentation
– procurement – bids and quotes. According to this policy, if the BOD is unable to
obtain three bids it makes note of such and then makes its decision based on the bids it
receives. In July, Sun Belt Engineers received one bid from Wheeler APEC. The BOD
wanted more than just the one bid so the specs and request for proposal were sent to
four other companies (Frontier Paving, Garrett Contracting, Cummings and Pavecom).
Despite its best efforts, the BOD could not find another company interested in doing the
work. Below are the replies the BOD received:
Frontier Paving – the area was too tight to work with their equipment
Cummings – does not perform that type of road work
Garrett Contracting – could not get their equipment in
Pavecom – was not interested in such a small job
Wheeler APEC – submitted a bid for $21,768 which was less than the estimate of
$25,500 given by Sun Belt Engineers to complete the job
The BOD waited two months for all bid requests after which time it voted to approve
the $21,768 bid. Another $8,500 was paid to Sun Belt Engineers for the inspection and
report, the design and preparation of Proposal for Contractors’ Bids for the repair of the
river road, and the construction administration during the repair and upon completion.
This brought the total cost of the project to $30,268.
The river park road repair is now complete and you may continue to enjoy our beautiful
park with your family and friends.