ST9302-CS001104From: "Lense & Nan Fullinwider" <plf@QuixNet.net>
To: City_of_OoppelI.Town_Center(jwitt)
Date: Sat, Nov 4, 2000 7:02 PM
Subject: New road construction ~j~ v~;b ~ ~,,,~,~
Hello Jim,
How are you today?. I hope you are well!
Hey, what follows is a heads up about the construction of Sandy Lake Road, but I am sure that your
!
inspection folks are on top of this and I am sending to you as a concerned citizen that our tax dollars not
be wasted with faulty construction.
My primary concern is the future collapse of the road and the expensive repair costs when the contractor
is originally responsible for the proper compaction of trenches. An example of this is Plantation and Bethel
roads where the sewer (sanitary or storm) lines were never compacted properly and thus over time,
collapsed causing extensive repair and costs. If I remember correctly (and I may be wrong) the contractor
finally paid for the excavation and repair of the collapsed section of Bethel Road, yet the repair cost the
citizens of coppell with road closure, lost time and a road that was a pain in the axle for several years until
it was repaired.
Also the E. Bethel School Rd. just west of Ace Hardware and just before the bridge is collapsing right near
the sewer manhole.
The City is or has recently paid for extensive repair of parts of road on Plantation that have been
collapsing over the years especially near the manholes because the trenches were most likely improperly
compacted by the original contractor,
If my understanding of trench compaction is correct, then we should never have any of this occur - yet it
does. I do not know the specifications, but I have always known that soil lifts of say 6 - 12" needed a
certain pementage of water or added moisture when they were being mechanically tamped/rolled/vibration
compacted to what 90%. Without the added moisture, the clays simply do not compact as tightly as they
can and thus over the years they do collapse and then when the contractor is long gone, the City ends up
paying for the expensive repair cost.
I bring this up to preface what I am about to say. As I was stopped at the stoplight at the corner of Heartz
and Sandy Lake I noticed that the road subbase is already collapsing under the recently poured and now
actively used NEW section of road. It is plainly obvious that the road base has sunk 6+ inches below the
concrete and that is not tolerable in the least bit. Yes the top 12-18" of road subbase is rotilled, lime
stabilized and heavily compacted, but if the trench fill material has not had the same compaction then it
will collapse. This part of the subbase is collapsing simply because we have had all this rain, which found
a weakly compacted avenue down into the lower levels of the trenches and now we have trenches being
compacted by water - not by machinery as it should have been.
If this is happening at the intersection of Heartz and Sandy Lake, I wonder how much more of the new
road has improperly compacted trenches that will collapse within a few years, causing expensive repair
that I do not want to pay for when it should have been correclty done the first time.
I know full well that contractors always try to get away with whatever they can as I have been associated
with the construction industry in one form or fashion for @ 20 years. They must do the work within
contracted costs or they do not make money, so what corners are cut.., quite often a lot of them.., and
they are done when the inspectors are not on sight. Yes the administrations of the contractors say the
proper methods are being employed, but they quite often do not know what their employees are doing, like
cutting corners - intended or not.., but they are being cut to save time and money.
I will go out and take pictures of this area tommorrow as it disturbs me greatly that a brand new section of
road is already destined for failure and expensive repair costs simply because a contractor failed to follow
proper compaction specifications and procedures.
Well, long story short, I certainly hope that you will take the time to go visit this area in question and I am
sure that other areas on Sandy Lake are quite possibly in similar condition, yet we may not know it for
many years to come as they are now hidden and will slowly collapse over time. I feel we are fortunate at
this timeas we have mother nature on our side with the rains settling the trenches and exposing some
shoddy work that has taken place!
I certainly hope that the City takes corrective procedures with the contractor now and not wait until later
when we the citizens, will have to pay for the expensive repair, the inconvenience of road closure and
headache that is involved with the repair.
Thanks for your time and please understand I am looking out for the City's best interest as well as the
citizens.
I will be happy to visit with you more on the subject if you wish and will be happy to meet you on site to
look at the problem.
Adios for now,
Lanse
Lanse Fuiiinwider
email: plf @quixnet.net
ph:972.745.3474
vm:972.601.2429
Work Ph: 940.369.7318