3720 - Board of Claims

Project involved improving 3.625 miles of the SR 2001 roadway between Station 721+00 and
Station 917+00. The work included straightening and aligning the existing roadway and
widening it from an overall width of approximately 17 feet to a width of approximately 40 feet
(two 11 foot travel lanes with 9 foot shoulders outside each lane). 4
To accomplish this,
PennDOT included an unusually detailed construction activities plan in the bid and Contract
documents that was to be used by the contractor to price and perform the work. This plan,
referred to as the Construction Sequence, divided the roadway into three sections and required
that the contractor work in only one section at a time. It further specified the work sequence in
each section by phases and steps. (Ex. P-2A).
The Construction Sequence was included in the Contract as a result of concerns
regarding soil erosion by the Pike County Conservation District (“Conservation District”). 5 The
Conservation District required PennDOT to submit an Erosion and Sediment Pollution Control
Plan (“E and S Plan”)(Ex. P-59) which minimized the risk of erosion by dividing the SR 2001
roadway work into three sections and allowing the contractor to excavate in only one section at a
time. The Conservation District approved the E and S Plan on this basis, which thereafter could
not be materially altered without Conservation District approval. PennDOT’s planners included
the E and S Plan in the Project's final plans and drawings and also incorporated its detailed
construction progression verbatim into the Contract documents, renaming it the Construction
Sequence.
4 The Contract described the widening as 30 feet. The plans and drawings actually called for a total road
construction of 40 feet in width including 9 foot shoulders on each side. We believe the roadway was reconstructed
as per the plans and drawings.
5 In 1999 and 2000, in the early stages of the Project's planning, PennDOT was required to present and get approval
of its road construction plan from the local Conservation District. The Conservation District was apparently
concerned about soil erosion along the embankments if PennDOT dug up the full three and five-eighths miles of
roadway all at once so required segmentation and strict sequencing of the roadway work.
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