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AMENDMENT NO. THREE TO CONTRACT K-1213-126: BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF NORMAN, OKLAHOMA, AND LEIDOS, INC., FORMERLY SAIC ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, AND INFRASTRUCTURE, INC., INCREASING THE CONTRACT AMOUNT BY $367,100 FOR A REVISED CONTRACT PRICE OF $2,767,165 TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL ENGINEERING SERVICES FOR UTILITY RELOCATION, DESIGN CHANGES OF THE IMHOFF CREEK BRIDGE, ACCESS MANAGEMENT, AESTHETICS FOR THE GATEWAY, AND PLAN MODIFICATIONS FOR THE DESIGN OF LINDSEY STREET FROM 24TH AVENUE S.W. TO BERRY ROAD.
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BACKGROUND: On November 22, 2011, the Norman City Council approved Programming Resolution R-1112-63 requesting federal funds for the West Lindsey Street Improvements. This resolution states the City’s commitment to adhere to the terms and conditions of a federally funded project. Through the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments (ACOG,) the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) agrees to provide 80% of the cost, up to $11.5 million, and administer the construction with the matching share from the City of Norman. In order to receive the federal funding, the City of Norman is required to enter into an agreement with ODOT to complete the design, acquire all necessary rights-of-way and relocate utilities and encroachments at 100% the City’s cost.
On August 28, 2012, the citizens of Norman voted in favor of a Bond Election to finance the local share of eight transportation/storm water improvement projects. One of the eight 2012 bond projects is West Lindsey Street from 24th Avenue S.W. to Berry Road.
The roadway portion of the project includes transportation and aesthetic improvements to Lindsey Street. The West Lindsey Street corridor between Interstate 35 and Berry Road is the most congested corridor in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. This section of West Lindsey Street has a traffic accident rate three (3) times the national average.
Proposed improvements for the roadway project include:
1. Widening West Lindsey Street from 3 lanes to 4 lanes with additional lanes at intersections
2. New bridge over Imhoff Creek
3. Continuous sidewalks on both sides of the street
4. Access management to adjacent properties
5. Multi-modal improvements including bicycle lanes
6. Aesthetic enhancements including decorative pavement, landscaping, and roadway lighting
7. Underground utilities
8. Accessibility improvements for disabled individuals
On December 18, 2012, City Council approved Contract K-1213-126 with Leidos (formerly known as SAIC), Inc. for the engineering design services needed to prepare the West Lindsey Street Corridor Project for construction in 2016. On April 23, 2013, Council approved Contract K-1213-184 with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) to construct Phase I of the storm water system from the Canadian River to the north side of the new State Highway 9 East (SH-9E) bridge over I-35. On May 28, 2013, Council approved Contract K-1213-199 with Gateway Planning Group to provide place making and corridor planning services with a focus on economic development within the commercial corridor. On September 10, 2013, Council approved Amendment No. 1 modifying the contract with Leidos to add a raised center median with landscaping to the project. On October 22, 2013 Council approved Amendment No. 2 modifying the contract with Leidos to include the review of design alternatives proposed by the University of Oklahoma Institute for Quality Communities (IQC). Other elements of Amendment No. 2 included installing monitoring wells to monitor groundwater elevations for the design of the drainage box and the design of the relocation of the City’s water and sewer lines (see the Summary of the Current Engineering Contracts table).
DISCUSSION: Amendment No. 3 to Contract K-1213-126 addresses several design issues such as utility relocation, Imhoff Creek Bridge design, access management, aesthetics and splitting the project into two phases in order to maximize federal funds.
Utility Relocation
One of the City’s key obligations of this project is to relocate all existing utilities in the corridor that may be in conflict with the street and storm water improvements. Public right-of-way is limited to 100 feet of width along Lindsey Street. Part of the utility relocation involves the removal of the overhead power lines from the corridor by either placing them underground or relocating them to a new alignment off of Lindsey Street.
The coordination, negotiation and electrical system design required of the City of Norman by Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company (OG&E) was considerably more complex than originally anticipated.
Negotiations with OG&E required the following support and design modifications from Leidos, Inc. for the Lindsey Street Project:
1. While working through the multiple design options with OG&E, the City required the support of an Electrical Power Distribution Engineer to review the feasibility and constructability of the designs proposed by OG&E. The Electrical Power Distribution Engineer travelled to Oklahoma City on several occasions to be present at meetings with OG&E. This resource was critical to the final resolution of the power distribution and the cooperation of OG&E.
2. The need for design of the Common Utility Trench (CUT) was determined after Council approval of Amendment No. 2 to the contract. It is typical in early project scopes to not include the cost of the utility relocation design because the extent of the relocations are typically not known until later in the design of the project. Similar contract amendments were made for the water line relocations on this project.
3. When the location for the CUT within the right of way was determined, it became necessary to modify the relocation of an existing 12 inch water line that was planned for relocation to the north side of Lindsey Street. The water line was relocated to the south side of Lindsey Street west of Lindsey Drive. The 12 inch water line east of Lindsey Drive was reduced to an eight inch water line and rerouted through the alley located on the north side of Lindsey Street (see attached location map). Rerouting the water line through the alley required additional survey and design services since this area had not been surveyed.
4. The storm water box culvert on Lindsey Street was shifted to the south 18 feet in order for the construction of the box culvert to not impact the CUT. This change required additional time and services.
5. Additional easement coordination was required to minimize the number of easements required and the properties impacted along the Lindsey Street corridor. These changes were made to meet the project requirement to build the Lindsey Street Project within the existing right-of-way and only obtain easements when necessary.
Amendment No. 3 addresses the additional engineering fees related to modifying the Lindsey Street Project to incorporate OG&E into the Lindsey Street Project. The cost of this portion of Amendment No. 3 is $256,220. However, this was required to remove the overhead power lines from the corridor as promised to the citizens and property owners.
Imhoff Creek Bridge Design
There are two items that need to be addressed on the Imhoff Creek Bridge. First, in the original contract there were two bridge types considered in the contract; Alternate A, a precast arch structure for spans less than 70 feet with a design fee of $10,500 and Alternate B, a conventional single span bridge from 70 to 100 feet in length with a design fee of $68,000. The worst case alternate B was included in the design contract. The hydraulic study showed bridge Alternate A as being capable of conveying the 10-year design storm as required by the City of Norman Storm Water Master Plan and not impacting the 100 year flood plain. This design change reduces the original design contract from $1,997,875 to $1,940,375, or by $57,500.
Second, Lindsey Street is being raised four feet above the existing elevation over Imhoff Creek in order to accommodate the larger bridge. Building the bridge within the existing right of way requires the construction of retaining walls. Amendment No. 3 to the Leidos contract addresses the additional engineering fees related to the geotechnical study and the design effort for the retaining walls. This portion of Amendment No. 3 is $47,700.
Access Management
One of the proposed improvements for Lindsey Street is access management or the reduction of driveway access points along the corridor. The purpose of performing access management is to improve safety and reduce congestion for the motorists. During the access management portion of the design, Leidos was requested to perform 24 hour traffic counts at various driveways and redesigned portions of the parking lots for four different businesses along Lindsey Street to determine needed changes to meet both project and property owner needs. The cost of this portion of Amendment No. 3 for this work is $21,190.
Aesthetics
Another proposed improvement for the Lindsey Street Corridor is aesthetics along the corridor, which includes the use of stamped and colored concrete at intersections, decorative light poles, bus shelters, aesthetics on the Imhoff Creek Bridge and a “gateway” feature, consisting of columns similar to the University of Oklahoma’s (OU) Cherokee Gothic architectural standard, on the Imhoff Creek Bridge. The original design contract included services to determine the look of the gateway feature but did not include the structural design, since the gateway feature was unknown. Leidos has provided a design for the bridge aesthetics that includes the structural design for the columns and aesthetic traffic railing and lighting design for the bridge (see attached rendering). The aesthetics cost also includes a half wall treatment for the bus shelters that match the Cherokee Gothic motif used on the new Lindsey Street Interchange and the OU campus. The cost of this portion of Amendment No. 3 for this work is $73,590.
Project Phasing
During the planning for the 2012 Bond Issue, the maximum available federal funding to the City for each year was $11.5 million. Shortly after the bond election, the maximum available federal funding was reduced to $9.7 million due to changes in the federal highway bill by Congress. In order to recover the level of federal funding, staff proposed splitting the Lindsey Street Project into two phases. Council approved the re-programming resolution R-1415-53 on November 25, 2014. By splitting the project, the City was able to receive additional funding in the amount of $3,734,200 in FFY 2016 in addition to the $9.7 million in FFY 2015 for a total of $13,434,200. Staff directed the design consultant to split the project engineering plans into two sets. The effort to split the plan set includes revisions to plan sheets, quantities and summary tables. The cost of this portion of Amendment No. 3 for this work is $25,900.
In summary, the additional design costs for the Lindsey Street Project are shown in the attachment.
The net increased cost for design is $367,100, or 15% of the existing design contract. If approved, the total design cost will become 9.3% of the estimated construction cost. Industry standards call for engineering design services to typically be between 7% and 12% of the project construction cost depending on the complexity of the project. The West Lindsey Street Project can be characterized as a highly complex project. Funds are available to cover the design cost of Amendment No. 3 in Lindsey Widening, Design (account No. 050-9552-431.62-01; project BP0189). If approved, the contract amount with Leidos, Inc. of $2,400,065 will increase to $2,767,165.
The West Lindsey Street Bond Project is currently on schedule and on budget based upon the original scope of the 2012 Bond Election. While the overall costs of the West Lindsey Street Project will exceed original estimates, the City’s net share of local costs for all eight Bond Projects is not currently estimated to exceed the overall expectations of the bond program.
All of the City’s obligations for the West Lindsey Street Bond Project are substantially complete including right-of-way acquisition, utility relocation and engineering design. Both phases of the project are currently scheduled for a bid opening in February 2016. Construction of the project will begin in April 2016, simultaneous with the closure by ODOT of the I-35 and Lindsey Street Bridge. Construction of the project will be completed by May 2017.
RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends approval of Amendment No. 3 to Contract K-1213-126, between the City of Norman and Leidos, Inc., in the amount of $367,100.