Stupid Construction Questions 1

[bridgebuster]

Ordinarily, I don't like to call field people stupid - I spent many years in construction and still do field work - but see attached photo. Today, the resident engineer sent an RFI asking "is this OK?"

 

[msquared48]

Ouch! They just loaded the breach!

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)

 

[bridgebuster]

I knew you'd be the first to reply.

 

[msquared48]

It's the time zone issue...

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)

 

[davidbeach]

Semi-movable object meets irresistible force??

 

[cvg]

is the "resident" engineer an "actual" engineer? Or is that just what he puts on his business cards so he can push the contractors around? and this sounds like something he can handle without phoning a friend...

 

[PEinc]

Tell him to ask the engineer who designed and laid out the railing, its posts, and its expansion joints?

http://www.PeirceEngineering.com

 

[cvg]

and check the anchor bolt edge distance...

 

[RHTPE]

Given some of my more recent experiences with the DOT consultants who design the bridges, this may have been built exactly the way it was detailed by the EoR.

There had to have been a shop drawing for the railing, as it appears to be a shop-fabricated item. The problem should have been caught there. But then, the consultants' reviews of my falsework drawings always seem to generate comments on the innane.


Ralph
Structures Consulting
Northeast USA

 

[bridgebuster]

The Resident Engineer is a licensed engineer. Until today I thought he was a reasonably competent person.

The company I work for is the EOR. The design drawing had a post on each side of the bridge joint and an expansion joint in the railing. Sometimes we get it right.

 

[RHTPE]

BB, First, let me apologize if my comment offended. I realize that there are many truly skilled consultants out there designing bridges. Perhaps my cheap shot should have been directed more towards the process rather than the EoRs. My recent dealings with my state's DOT is probably a classic, with the rep who is on-site daily knowing so little about the design process and the construction process who reports to another who sits in an office far removed from the site (who has probably never seen the actual site conditions).

I guess the real question is, who in the convoluted chain of bureaucracy approved the shop drawing for the railing? From my experience, it all goes back to the EoR or consultant. Of course that person, while quite knowledgeable and cooperative, also has never seen the site first-hand.



Ralph
Structures Consulting
Northeast USA

 

[bridgebuster]

Ralph,

No apologies necessary. I posted the photo for a bit of mid-week levity. The PM in my office for the construction support (he isn't a bridge guy) sent me the memo from the RE asking for a response. I just shook my head when I read the questions. Someone never looked at the shop drawings.

In the area where I mainly work, RE's on state DOT projects are usually very good. This project is with a local agency. They're more "liberal" when it comes to qualifications.

In a bit of irony, I'm involved with a project that's just starting construction - the same contractor and same super. Yesterday at the progress meeting he said "...I don't mind doing you a favor; this way you'll look the other way on something else..." When the time is right, I'll pull the photo out and tell him we don't need any favors like this.

 

[cvg]

I think just a tiny bit of blame should be placed on the moron who calls himself a foreman...

 

[RHTPE]

In my experience, people who become foremen are not always known for their expertise in chasing details. Usually they are delegated the job because of their ability to manage people and anticipate needs. Some can deal well with the bureaucratic process of coordinating submittals and shop drawings, some cannot.

But cvg is correct in that it should have been caught before the anchors went in. If they were post-installed anchors, even worse.


Ralph
Structures Consulting
Northeast USA

 

[bridgebuster]

The bridge is near along a beach. I guess the inspector was fishing or catching some rays when the post went up.

 

[cvg]

a good foreman would have caught that and actually brought it to the attention of the RE. And I would expect a bit more from a bridge contractor who presumably has done similar projects for years. It shows that he was not doing the important part of his job called "supervision". And the inspector apparently was asleep in the truck.

 

[RHTPE]

BB: Where is the beach? Maybe he was distracted by beachgoers in bikinis.


Ralph
Structures Consulting
Northeast USA

 

[3DDave]

Didn't a Hyatt hotel have a problem that started because someone thought the original design was too hard to do and simplified it? I know there were other problems on that job, but that was the one that brought the attention.

 

[CELinOttawa]

Yup... Kansas City Regency Hyatt and the Skywalk Collapse. Some have argued the original design wasn't constructible, but in any case the fault was, inevitably and as is invariable, laid at the feet of the two Engineers.

 

[X-Wing]

ouch!

Very Truly Yours,

- andru18