Construction along the eastern and western segments of Fruitland Avenue continues with additional change orders and an unplanned redesign that will add hundreds of thousands of dollars to a project once described as “the most expensive road in Atwater.”
In two separate actions during its meeting on Monday, the City Council approved the ninth change order in Phase 3 of the Fruitland Avenue Reconstruction Project in amount of $576,202, bringing the aggregate amount of change orders to $862,354, an increase of 30 percent over the original change order budget.
With the total amount of change orders for the project, the original budget of $6,623,540 has now increased to $7,485.894, resulting in a 13 percent jump in total project costs.
The Council also approved an increase in its Measure V Fund to $926,202 to cover the additional and future change order costs.
In its final action of the four-hour meeting related to the eastern portion of the Fruitland Avenue project, the council voted to accommodate homeowners concerns regarding a “bulb out” at the intersection of Fruitland Avenue and Chardonnay Way, which several residents complained was too narrow and potentially hazardous for vehicles and pedestrians.
On a 3 to 2 vote, the Council agreed to continue paving East Fruitland Avenue up to the intersection at Chardonnay Way, while shaving back the two bulb outs on the northern edge of Fruitland at the entrance to Chardonnay at a potential cost of $100,000. This action will necessitate an additional change order in a future meeting.
However, this will widen the roadway at the intersection by about 2 feet, thus placating residents’ safety concerns.
This follows the Council’s decision on March 10 to heed the advice of residents to remove a series of roundabouts and “choker islands” originally planned for the less-than-two-mile stretch of east Fruitland.
During the current construction on West Fruitland Avenue, it was discovered that the sewer force main line running under the road was originally engineered too shallow and necessitated relocation to protect the sewer system in the neighborhood.
According to staff reports: “Recent pothole data indicated that the sewer force main is shallower than shown on the as-built drawings. It is considered infeasible to protect this 40-year-old pipe in place during paving operations due to its age and extremely shallow depth.”
The report continued: “The sewer force main will be bored at depth that will not conflict with existing utilities.”
According to City Manager Chris Hoem, the additional change order expense of $576,202 was unforeseen, but unavoidable.
“Whether we saw it earlier or not, it needed to be relocated anyway,” he said.
Staff reports that the additional changes to both sections of Fruitland Avenue project have “increased the workload and extended the project end date.”