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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Expensive changes haunt the Sullivan Bridge project

The replacement of the Sullivan Road Bridge over the Spokane River has hit a few hurdles, most of them related to a design error committed by contractor CH2M.

Spokane Valley Public Works Director Eric Guth told the City Council last week that the clearance between the Centennial Trail – which runs along the river below the bridge – and the girders that carry the bridge was miscalculated by the designer.

Guth explained that CH2M mistakenly measured from the deck of the bridge, leaving less than the required 10 feet of clearance required between the surface of the trail and the underside of the bridge.

When the mistake was discovered in October, the initial plan was to simply lower the trail, but that proved impossible because there’s an underground phone cable beneath it.

Instead, a decision was made to realign the trail closer to the river to create the right clearance.

That meant a steel retaining wall had to be built along the river, and now a staircase also has to be realigned so it can reach the trail.

“We are up to change order 11, a number we would obviously like to keep to zero or one,” Guth said. “But in a project of this size, it’s not unusual to have multiple change orders.”

According to the city’s website, the cost of the project is around $15 million, of which Spokane Valley pays $2.32 million. The rest is covered by state and federal transportation grants.

CH2M has paid for changes related to the design error, which cost a total of $509,000. Of that the city is responsible for $65,000.

Reconnecting the staircase to the trail below the bridge will cost $104,000, of which Guth said the city has agreed to pay $40,000.

“There’s another $64,000 in question – we did not come to agreement on that,” Guth said. He added that the city will have that work completed on a force account, which means it pays for labor and materials, and the total cost may end up a little lower.

A $300,000 contingency was built into the original budget and there are sufficient funds to cover the $104,000, Guth said.

The bridge replacement project is scheduled to be finished in October.