3720 - Board of Claims

PennDOT’s failure to address the guy wire/design problem from the start of construction
(August 2001) until the end of March 2002.
Inadequate Assistance with Pole Relocation
With respect to PennDOT’s exceedingly slow and inadequate response to Intercounty’s
request for help with the pole relocation problems during the first six months of construction, we
start with Mr. Pilosi’s initial representations at the June 11 pre-job meeting. At this meeting,
Mr. Pilosi, as PennDOT’s District 4-0 Utilities Administrator, stated that PennDOT and he
would coordinate and address utility pole relocation issues going forward. However, his abject
failure to do so for the first six months of the Project, despite repeated requests by Intercounty
for assistance in expediting this work, was, in our view, a material and contributing cause of the
overall delay and disruption to the Project.
To understand the impact of PennDOT’s actions/inaction here, we note first that
Mr. Sebastianelli, PennDOT’s inspector-in-charge for the Project, was on site daily and was well
aware of the problems created for Intercounty by the initial seven week starting delay and the
slower than expected pace of the pole relocation. 14
He was also aware early on (or should have
been aware at least by mid-October 2001 when the Utilities left the job without even starting in
Section Two or One) that any further delay in the planned relocation of the poles and wires
would so disrupt Intercounty’s work schedule (as dictated by PennDOT's Construction
Sequence) that unless prompt action to correct this problem was taken, Intercounty’s work could
not be completed as planned. Mr. Sebastianelli also knew during this early period of the Project,
July through December 2001, that all pole relocations for the Project should have been
14 Mr. Sebastianelli, the PennDOT employee with the most first-hand knowledge about the Project's daily progress
and delays, was not called by PennDOT to testify at trial. As a result, the testimony of Mr. Nansteel regarding the
Project’s progress, the utility pole relocation delay problems and discussions with PennDOT personnel on site stands
largely uncontradicted.
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