Cracks found in more 520 Bridge pontoons
SEATTLE -- Despite state assurances that the problem was fixed, more cracks were discovered in the second round of pontoons being built for the new 520 Bridge.
The Washington Department of Transportation insisted the problems were fixed, that the cracks found in the first round of pontoons would not carry over to the second. But the Problem Solvers have discovered at least nine concrete pontoon panels have already been rejected because of too many cracks.
This is cycle 2, the second set of six pontoons that Kiewit Construction is building for the 520 floating bridge.
Many of the interior walls of the pontoons are pre-cast, meaning they're built next door to the basin where the pontoons are assembled and then dropped in by crane from above.
Though the first batch of pontoons had myriad problems with the concrete cracking and breaking away, WSDOT hired an expert review panel and has consistently said the problems wouldn't be repeated.
"In cycle two, we are looking to implement the recommendations of the expert review panel. We don't expect that to occur in cycles two through six here," Program Director Julie Meredith said in September.
Last month, the Problem Solvers revealed that all six of the first pontoons built in Aberdeen were leaking, and last week the state admitted the four largest pontoons, which are now on Lake Washington, are still leaking. Repairs are set to begin early next year.
According to documents obtained through a public records request, there is evidence that Kiewit Construction has already experienced problems with concrete cracking in cycle two.
In one document called a "request for information," Kiewit asks WSDOT's approval to use six pre-cast panels headed for Pontoon Q, even though the cracking in the panels exceeded the maximum amount allowed under their contract.
Mark Gaines, WSDOT's construction engineer, recommended that the request "be denied and the panels recjected."
"Three of the six panels were recast, and the other three were found to have less than 30 feet of structural cracking and were repaired," WSDOT said.
The department also added that a total of nine concrete panels have been rejected during cycle two due to excessive structural cracking.
It is still early in the construction of this second cycle of pontoons, and WSDOT points out that it is a natural property of concrete to crack. Department officials say the cracking was both expected and planned for in the contract with Kiewit.
The Problem Solvers have also discovered that the Federal Highway Administration, which has oversight authority, has appointed its own technical advisor to join the state's review panel.
It seems that there are two of us with the same stage name here. I am the one that thinks KOMO is doing a great public service in investigating these pontoon deficiencies, not the one that is flaming this site. I will reemerge in future threads under another name. The halfwit named Transpopro is welcome to this label but I sense that he (or she) has little to do with transportation as well as no clue of what it means to be a professional engineer from experience. Beware of future posts from âTranspoproâ.
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I could play âIâm the rubber ball, youâre the glueâ all day long but I havenât seen anything in your posts that indicate the you have anything productive to add to this or any other conversation. Calling me a Troll doesnât diminish your Trolling though. Nice Try. I on the other hand, I know exactly what Iâm talking about regarding poor concreting practices of slip-shod large contractors like the one you are trying to defend with your course and amateurish bleats. I may use another stage name in the future but you appear to be neither in Transportation nor do you appear to be a Professional in any capacity. Pathetic!
"Repairs are set to begin early next year." Â
Bwahahahaa already needs repairs and it's not even built yet. Â Complete FAIL.
See what happens when the union bosses allow drinking on the job?
@Magic 8 Ball Well I guess I will never ask the magic 8 ball anything again; proof it has no idea what it is talking about.
 @northwestsurfer It just says whatever floats up in its "mind".
@Magic 8 Ball Really? The guys drinking were in the office and not on the "job". Office guys that work for Kiewit are not members of any union. Even if these guys were members of a union, the union bosses(no such thing really) don't run any job the contractor does Get you facts straight before you run your mouth.
@madminer15 What else do you expect from the magic 8 ball?
I will NEVER drive on this new bridge!
 @DarkParty Wife said something like that once, too, and she STILL married me...
Cook county, Chicago Illinois. Â King County, Seattle Washington. Â All the same. Â Union liberal crooks
 @sentryone More than likely it is the unions which are quietly revealing all this to the right whistleblowers. If you want to blame someone, blame the 9-day-wonder execs receiving 6-figure bonuses at Kiewit. But of course, that would violate "conservative principles", wouldn't it?
@sentryone There is always at least one person that has to come in to the forum and turn it into a political circus. This story has nothing to do with politics, nor does it have anything to do with unions.
@sentryone This has nothing to do with a union. This has to do with a General Contractor doing shoddy work and trying to get the owner of the contract to accept substandard work. You cant blame the union workers for this without more facts. Even if it was the workers fault Kiewit would just get rid of them and hire workers who could do the job. This most likely lies soley in the engineering department of Kiewit. Engineers are paid to figure out how to meet the requirements of a contract and save as much money in the process as possible, sometimes they fail at that.
Concrete cracks. Â What's the story?
 @jb_22 But concrete that is heavily (and properly) post-tensioned longitudinally, transversely, and vertically does NOT crack - unless it is subjected to extreme loading (i.e. the extreme storm event, which would occur very infrequently and certainly not since the pontoons were built). If you believe otherwise, then go inside the pontoons of the two existing I-90 floating bridges. You will find NO crack and NO leaks after 30 years of service. These are not conventional concrete structures. Nor were they conventionally designed to allow the kinds of cracks that are typical of conventionally reinforced concrete structures designed for above water applications. THAT is the STORY.
Actually if you go inside I-90 the pontoons have water in them as well. I've been inside of I-90 on several occasions and many of the pontoons have water in them. Why do you think WSDOT is always pumping water out of them.
 @Eduardo Capistrano  Spot on Ed.Â
"WSDOT points out that it is a natural property of concrete to crack. Department officials say the cracking was both expected and planned for in the contract with Kiewit."
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These people need to join the ranks of the unemployed and some need to go to jail.
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Hats off to Tracy Vedder and KOMO for exposing this debacle.
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And employees of Kiewit construction, WSDOT, Julie Meredith, and Mark Gaines are STILL employed. Take THAT you unemployed people! Even though you'd be willing to step in and do the job right- this is yet more proof that there are many, MANY people that would rather stay in those jobs, take up space and get paid for continuously turning out and accepting crap. This issue should have been resolved LONG before pontoons got shipped let alone got assembled. What an embarassment!Â
We need the FBI to move in on this .
@armchairquaterback Ya we dont.
The buck stops with Queen Christine, and in January it will stop with King Jay. What are they going to do about it?
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 @ddrum Nothing.  It's George bush's fault
@sentryone @ddrum No, this is Putin's fault
 @ddrum King Jay is implementing "Lean Management" ...that should fix it!
 @Oppenheimer Does that mean he is going to "Lean" on Kiewit?
Oh, my. Time to contact my state senator again.
@lisaraintree, has that worked for you before? It never has for me.
@8675309 Yes, me vs. the state of Washington, a personal matter, he was a great help. The senator Murry replies with a form letter two months after the inquiry.
I read earlier that they are blaming a lot of the structural deficiencies on Iron Workers for not using the properly sized re bar or not enough in some areas. Â I brought this up to a friend who used to be an Iron Worker and he said they do that all the time to stay on budget and on time. Â Even though the concrete problems are from a completely different entity, many are saying they will refuse to drive on the new bridge due to the Iron Workers poor re bar work. Â So I am wonder what will you drive on since Iron Workers build EVERYTHING?
 @Keri The issue with cracking concrete has nothing to do with the Ironworkers not installing the correct amount rebar.  First, concrete cracks.  The severity can be controlled with to some degree with varying mixes,  curing techniques and more / less reinforcing.  The reinforcing on this project is installed per specification and inspected not only by the installer but general contractor's inspector and very likely WSDOT.  The issue, which is likely blown out of proportion, is not with the reinforcing installer, but more to do with the type (mix) of concrete, how it is installed, environmental conditions during the pour and curing.  Let's not blame those that are following the plan.
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Build it, I will drive on it, as will everyone that gets the chance.
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 @Rutabaga  @Keri That is exactly what I said..."Even though the concrete problems are from a completely different entity."  I was referring to an earlier article that reported on the re bar and the comments directed at that.  Please read the post before replying.
im SO glad the same group of people were reelected to our state government. Â i have SO much confidence that things like this will be straightened out immediately! Â what an effing joke.
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That is a good question, Typical Big Government response I'm expecting. They always pass the buck so far down it gets lost , The person or persons responsible for the oversight will be lost also. Keep asking questions or else they think there untouchable.Â
And you wonder why construction is so litigated now of days? Even Kiewit recruiters who have come to my University say they do not cut corners and do it right the first time. Now we know that it is a bunch of bull and I am glad I did not interview with them.
It's bad enough when garbage work gets passed off just to move a contract along and it's *not* safety related, but this is going way beyond that. Someone in the chain needs to stand up for once and put a stop to the 'anything to meet schedule and budget' mentality. I think the public would be willing to accept some additional time if it meant getting it done right. And if WSDOT would actually stick up for their inspectors, they might remember that delays due to poor or unacceptable work are the contractor's problem - if they run out of working days in the contract, the contractor eats the costs.
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Maybe if they'd quit being too afraid to even attempt going to arbitration/litigation, they might find out they actually have enough documentation to put fault on a contractor. But they seem to give in to contractors before the fight even starts.
Time to suspend this project and get some oversight going. Everyone was so fixated on the tunnel, the evil tunnel, oh the tunnel, which so far is running ahead of schedule and under budget, and instead the 520 bridge is turning into the death trap fiasco.
Komo, can you please do research on how much money Kiewit Construction has made because the delays due to cracked pontoons being rejected?
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I distinctly remember in one of your stories that for every day there was a delay in the pontoons being delivered, the contractor building the pontoons would be fined $10,000 per day but the contractor building the bridge would make $100,000 per day of delayment. Since Kiewit just so happens to doing BOTH of the contracts, that equals out to a $90,000 profit for the company PER DAY. Dare I say that the company could be intentionally sabotaging the pontoons to make a profit? *gasp*
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I've said it from the get-go. This company should have been fired when the first round of investigations proved some major errors in this company's performance AND ESPECIALLY after the story that the SAME company is on the hook for the shoddy work on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. (Here's the story: http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Preview--520-bridge-contractor-faces-new-investigation-for-bridge-safety-concerns-177373381.html)
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Why is this company still building this bridge?
 @Tattooed_Angel Maybe we can get Drake Construction to come in as a White Knight and finish the job ahead of schedule and under budget. THAT could be interesting!
I'm having trouble following. If the contract specifies a certain amount of cracking is okay, why would you ask if you can still use them?Â
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Does this contract not specify that the state will give the contractor X amount of $$ to produce product X to X specifications?Â
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I'm guessing that these specifications are there for a reason (ie: safety, durability). How can you go crying to the DOT asking if a lump of cake and frosting will work for their wedding cake?Â
Did wsdot smoke some wspot?? Just call those pontoons the S.S. Gregroire!
Just tow them all out to sea. Maybe they will all float to Japan.
So let me get this straight, now Kiewit is following exactly what WSDOT wants them to do and they're still cracking?
 @8675309 I doubt it. Most likely, the reports of pouring concrete in rain or otherwise too wet are correct, and the Portland Cement is being washed out of the concrete leading to cracking.
Let's face it. This bridge is going to be built and work is not going to stop, faulty materials or not. It makes you downer how many other projects have had faulty materials that no one noticed.Â
Try this for size Everybody winks and nods and they install this concrete sponge . it crack and we have a reef with 100m dollars in wrongful death laws suits . and corrupt / criminal contractors and state employees directly responsible , but it could last 75 years if no one drives on it .
reject these thing or start firing everyone at wsdot becouse they are on the take
Well, well, well, you people are actually starting to wake up! Im glad more of you are getting fed up with the antics of our state government. Maybe there is hope. But will any of you raise your voice and force accountability??? Thats the big question........
I do not often drive on the 520 bridge... but when I do, I'd like it not to sink.
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Most of you in the public are stupid dumb a88es . These contractors &  their lawyers know they can bend you over and make you like it . These guys are going to be long gone with your money before you ever figure out how to stop them . WSDOT are a bunch of fools and they know it . Thats why they are covering for their own stupid moves .
WTF?? Corruption in our state Gov. That's just crazy talk.