Design and Construction Consideration When Working in an Urban Environment

The purpose of this presentation is to provide guidance for designing and constructing utility improvements in heavily urbanized areas. Working in urban areas has a unique set of challenges that should be considered during design and construction. If these items are left unchecked, project schedules, budgets and the overall project success can be impacted. This presentation will identify real-world issues and how various issues were or were not addressed. The City of Columbus signed two consent Decrees with Ohio EPA to address SSOs and CSOs in 2002 and 2004, respectively. The City of Columbus is the 14th most populous city in the United States, with a population of 900,000 people. The collection system consists of 6% combined sewers and 94% separated sewers. The majority of the combined sewers are located in the downtown area and the separated sewers extend into the suburbs. During the last 15-years, the City of Columbus has aggressively constructed projects to reduce CSOs and SSOs. These projects consisted of CSO modifications, private property work, green infrastructure projects, and pipe rehabilitation projects in some of the most populated areas of the city. The presenters have a combined experience of more than 30 years working on City of Columbus projects in urbanized areas. We will discuss procedures to implement in design and construction to mitigate issues throughout the project. The designer of urban projects must be aware of the current activities in the project area such as bus and garbage routes, corporate events and schedules, access points for vital businesses like hospitals and fire departments, business concerns, and the health and safety of residents working and living near the proposed construction sites. Communication and an active public outreach program are essential tasks during design phase of the project. The designer should be calling government agencies, schools, hospitals, and businesses in the project area to discuss the project objectives and the potential impacts to businesses or residents. The design phase is also the most cost-effective time to develop a plan to address local concerns/requirements. Delaying the coordination until construction will lead to more complaints, change orders and increased costs. During these discussions the designer should consider noise and odor impacts, access issues, security issues, site specific limitations, and traffic patterns. In construction, communication becomes even more relevant than the activities during design. Residents and businesses 'live' the construction activity on a daily basis and become immediately aware of the factors that impact their daily routine. The myriad of issues the design phase tries to anticipate will be minimized but a few others may grow in perception and yet other items not anticipated must be dealt with. A good rapport and continuous communication with those impacted residents will itself mitigate and minimize many of these unforeseen situations. A reminder that the public works being performed is for the betterment of the local project area, including themselves, which also hopefully engage their communal good will and public spiritedness. Most people do not like change or seek out disruptions to their daily routines, but consistent public outreach during the construction phase now engages the local residents and business owners as they travel along on the construction process journey. This engagement can go just as far, and sometimes further, than possible design changes or field adjustments for changed conditions to a project's overall success. In summary, the presentation will use real-world examples from the last 15-years of design and construction projects within the City of Columbus to demonstrate the need to coordinate, communicate and have an outreach program to address public comments and concerns. We will show examples of solutions that were effective in addressing business and resident concerns.