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Tempe delays replacing four Town Lake dams by Dianna M. Náñez - Feb. 19, 2010 09:17 AM The Arizona Republic January's heavy rains have delayed the replacement of Town Lake's four west-end dams. Replacement of them was to begin in early February. Construction was postponed last month when the Valley suffered its most severe winter storm in 17 years. The dams are being replaced because the rubber of which they are made is deteriorating. [The city of Tempe got screwed on this deal. The Tempe city council members got a 30 year unwritten guarantee on the dam. And of course when the dam started to fail the vendor refused to honor the unwritten guarantee.] The storm caused a surge in the flow upstream from the Salt River. To prevent flooding, Tempe deflated the lake's rubber dams so the water could flow down the Salt River bed west toward Phoenix. The lake was closed for several days after the storm to allow debris to continue to flow through the river channel and out of the lake. Although it has been about a month since the winter-rain pelting, water is still overflowing at the west-end of the dam. The water is coming from upstream reservoirs that continue to fill from snowmelt and fresh rain. "We can't fix it (the dams) if there's water flowing on people underneath it," said Nancy Ryan, Tempe's Rio Salado Project manager who oversees Town Lake operations. The first of the four dams is to be installed in April or May when the winter runoff subsides, according to a city report. Prior to installing the dams, PCL Construction, Inc., the contractor replacing the dams, must build an access road for a construction staging area where large cranes to lift the dams will be placed. The staging area will be alongside the lake's west-end dams below the Tempe Center for the Arts. The project is expected to take about a year. If the manufacturer provides the dams early, Tempe could speed installation and the construction could be completed on time despite the late start, Ryan said. To save on construction costs, Tempe has timed the replacement of the dams with the installation of a pedestrian bridge that will straddle the west-end dams and connect the north and south sides of Town Lake. [This is a million dollar pork program like the Alaska bridge to nowhere. And in fact the Tempe bridge goes no where!] PCL Construction is the contractor for the bridge, too. The cost to build the bridge is estimated at $6.3 million and is being funded with federal and city dollars. During the dams replacement a temporary coffer dam will be installed just east of the west-end rubber dams. That coffer dam will allow water to remain in the lake while the west-end dams are removed, keeping the lake open during construction. The cost to replace the dams is estimated at $2.5 million. Tempe has budgeted an additional $250,000 to fund the project's contingency costs. Bridgestone will reimburse Tempe up to $3 million of the costs to replace the dam. The reimbursement payments are scheduled at 60 days after city officials provide receipts. That deal was approved last year, after a series of legal negotiations between Bridgestone and Tempe over what was to blame for the early deterioration of the dams. But the replacement is only a temporary fix. The new Bridgestone dams are being provided to Tempe on a five-year lease. The city will lease the dams from Bridgestone for $1 a month. But at the end of that period, Bridgestone will remove its dams and Tempe must install new dams at the city's expense. The estimate to replace the dams has skyrocketed over the past few years and could be as much as $20 million. [The Tempe city council members got screwed when they cut this deal. Or better said the Tempe council member screwed the public when they cut this contract.] |