Meetings Ahead
Most meetings in Wellfleet are remote only, but some are held in person. Go to www.wellfleet-ma.gov/calendar and click on the meeting you want to watch. Instructions for participating are on the agendas.
Thursday, Jan 11
- Conservation Commission and Board of Health site visit, 1 p.m., Mass. Alternative Septic System Test Center, 4 Kittridge Rd., Sandwich
- Cemetery Commission, 2 p.m.
- Nauset Regional School Committee, 6 p.m., Nauset Regional Middle School auditorium
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 7 p.m., Adult Community Center and Zoom
Tuesday, Jan. 16
Conversation Starter
Bridge Changes Cost
Construction of a temporary bypass bridge at the Chequessett Neck Bridge site has been completed, according to a December press release from Environmental Partners, the owner’s project representative for the Herring River Restoration Project.
Construction company MIG will be working to install utility conduits across the temporary bridge as well as guardrails between pedestrian sidewalks and vehicular approaches. According to Wes Stinson, Environmental Partners’ representative for the project, the temporary bridge will be operational early this year.
But at the select board’s Dec. 19 meeting, members questioned a request for two change orders to the project that will dip into the project’s contingency budget to the tune of $900,000.
A temporary bridge substructure cost an additional $647,417, Stinson said, due to a revision to the bridge’s design after receiving comments from the Mass. Dept. of Transportation. And $245,006 more will go towards supplying utilities to the bridge. Those overruns, in addition to a previous $10,094 change order, constitute 45 percent of a $2 million contingency budget.
The select board ultimately voted to approve the change orders, but not before asking representatives of the project to reaffirm that it would not go over the $75 million it has been awarded in state and federal grants.
“Can you reassure me that this town will not incur any expense for this project at all?” board member Tim Sayre asked.
Herring River Restoration Project coordinator Carole Ridley said that the change orders constitute only 3 percent of the project’s total cost. And, according to Ridley, the project’s funders have expressed flexibility regarding reallocating funds within existing grants and allowing the town to seek additional awards through the same funding sources.
Stinson added that there are currently no more predicted change orders for bridge construction.
“What happens if we go over the contingency budget?” board member Ryan Curley asked.
“We hope to not have to cross that bridge,” Stinson said. —Sam Pollak
