The Miracle of the Sketchily Scheduled Public Hearing

I've been on hiatus fron this blog after Nitsch's submission of the 25% design plan at the end of 2021.  All that time, I've continued to observe the CPPC meetings; they have been as interesting as watching paint dry.

Nitsch's Michalak seemed to avoid the CPPC but, a few times, the CPPC succeeded in having Michalak show up to give a report of ... non-progress. This was confirmed by someone with knowledge of the project within the MBTA who complained to me of how Nitsch was not delivering the necessary engineering plan although 1 year had lapsed since the request made in 2022.

Engineering plan vs design sketch 

My MBTA interlocutor explained that an engineering plan is different from the design plan. The latter is a sketch; the former is plan that shows location of items and structures in the subsurface and surface of the project area.  The subsurface items include pipes and cables because you don't want to start digging - for example - to build a wall and then find a buried cable or pipe that must not be disturbed.  The subsurface scrutiny is made using sensing instruments such as radars.

The engineering plan then then goes through a cycle of review, discussion if any problems come up, re-submission, re-review. When everything checks out, then the engineering plan is accepted and a public hearing scheduled which is the unveiling of the project to the public.  From that point on, control of the project switches to MassDOT.

With that information at hand, for the past 2 years, I've zoomed the CPPC meetings waiting to hear about the engineering plan.  I heard bellyaching about redrawing the plan to switch from tunnel jacking to cut and cover.  I heard Nitsch request more money ($450K) and part of it went to hire a contractor to schedule the cut and cover process used to make the RR underpass.  I heard the CPPC brainstorming how to get the extra funds and so on.

December 13, 2023 - Crestfallen

So slowly time ticked by and we come to the CPPC meeting of December 13th, 2023.  The CPPC had been growing impatient and putting pressure on Michalak to schedule a public hearing, the committee's  Holy Grail. Michalak came and gave the bad news: no chance of a public hearing before April. The CPPC was crestfallen.

At this December 13, 2023 CPPC meeting, Michalak reported [audio] working on the "bridge worksheet" that he expected to turn in a week later (~Dec 20) right before Christmas break
 
-->   30 days for MassDOT review 
-->  resubmittal 
-->  30 day review 
 
[These are mandatory reviews of a specific number of days]
 
This process brought the process to the end of February and then a 40 day period for MassDOT to prepare a Public Hearing.  At this meeting and in previous meetings, Michalak foresaw the Public Hearing scheduled, at the earliest, in April.

January - a gift from the Magi! 

However, miraculously, at the January 10, 2024 meeting, Michalak announces that the Public Hearing has been scheduled for March 7th!  The advanced date was so surprising that Vince Stanton wondered [audio]:
 
 

"I mean, before we heard from John the good news, in looking at the most recent invoice on task 050, the revised 25% design, I was astonished to see that they billed through December 7th, they billed the 5.5% of revised 25% design.


[Laughing] I would have assumed that you had to have the revised 25% design complete in order to have the 25% design hearing.


So maybe a lot has happened since November 25th or ...?”  

 


At this January 10th meeting, Michalak mentioned that he had just hired a subcontractor to do subsurface utility engineering work which set off my alarm. In my understanding of what my MBTA source had told me, if the subsurface has not been done then there couldn’t be an engineering plan!!

At the February meeting, Jarred Goentzel requested that someone attend the MPO's February 15th meeting to let the MPO Board know that a public hearing had been scheduled;  Goentzel deemed it important for the Board to know prior to its April TIP meeting.  At that meeting, the Board would determine project schedules including whether to postpone - by 1 year - projects not having had a public hearing yet .
 
What I surmise is that a mysterious someone applied pressure on MassDOT personnel to schedule the hearing before the TIP meeting in April, even in the absence of a reviewed engineering plan, fearing that otherwise the project would be set back on the MPO schedule.
 
But I fear the effect of vaulting rules that are meant to make sure engineering plans are safe and well thought out.  I fear that cutting corners may lead to a catastrophic accident in the commuter rail. 


Incidentally, on the February 7, 2024 meeting, CPPC Chair Muson stated:



"I will say that Will Brownsburger has also been doing what he can behind the scenes and and have may have had an impact on that happening in March rather than April as well.”

 
Update: JS requested the engineering plan/revised 25% design from MassDOT Public Records dept on Feb 23, 2024.  Finally on ~ March 14, 2024, JS received a document: the original 25% design  that Michalak submitted in November,  2021.  Darin requested it from the town and his request was dismissed simply mentioning that it was available at an exterior source without providing a link or information on the source.  The Nitsch Engineering website has not posted the revised 25% design.
 
This seems to prove that there was no revised or completed 25% design submittal when the Public Hearing was scheduled.  

 





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