DUDEK - Continuous Project Communication

Management Support

Continuous Communication Keeps Large Public Projects on Track
As Southern California’s population grows, so does the size and complexity of its construction projects. Coordination between regulatory agencies, contractors, consulting firms, and local governments is tantamount to successful completion of multi-party community development projects.

Construction managers are the hub that keeps this complex web together, but the tool they use to get it all done on time and to specification is surprisingly simple: constant communication.

Preemptive Strikes
The Rancho Santa Fe Road expansion in Carlsbad, California is a typical example of a massive, multi-party project. To handle expanding commercial and residential development, four more lanes are being added to the original two lanes on a road that is a key connector to Highway 78.

The technical challenges are fairly standard - traffic, detours, construction, and the like pose few problems to construction managers. The difficult part comes in coordinating two different general contractors, the City of Carlsbad, the project designer, utility companies, the general public, and the City of San Marcos.

Dudek managers found that the best way to streamline communication between the disparate entities is simply identifying and solving problems before they get out of control. The following tips facilitate that process:

Prescheduled daily, weekly, and monthly meetings between parties.
Immediate dispute resolution. “Respecting the other person’s opinion is vital - you have to hear what they have to say,” said George Litzinger, division manager of construction management at Dudek.
Shared data/information.

“Dudek did a great job in communication,” said Skip Hammann, City of Carlsbad. “They really got the word out, and they’ve been a pleasure to work with. As issues have come up, we’ve worked through them all. It has been very successful overall.”

Information Soothes Raw Nerves
The Rancho Santa Fe Road expansion is impacting thousands of motorists and neighboring homeowners. The following measures helped ease tensions and foster good will with the general public:

Newsletters and door hangers explaining the project’s progress and upcoming road closures.

“Meet and greet” informational sessions with members of the community, including aerial photos of the project, hand-outs, and refreshments.

A project information hotline listed on flashing road signs for motorists.

Coordinating with Utility Agencies
Coordinating with utility agencies needs to be done early and often. Cable, telephone, electric, gas, water, and sewer have to be dug up, some temporarily put on power lines while the road is constructed, and then re-buried after completion. This takes time.

“Even with constant pressure from us, it still took a year to relocate fiber optic lines that were in conflict with our roadways,” said Litzinger.

To facilitate collaboration with utility agencies, it’s important to:

Begin working with utilities early.

Have utility coordinators in the field to aid the search for utility lines.

Put all new and existing data on utility locations onto one map. “Where the utility company thinks their lines are is sometimes incorrect,” said Litzinger. “With a comprehensive map, we were able to see where the conflicts would be and what needed to be relocated.”

Have agencies move lines before work begins. “Moving all the utilities ahead of time during design allows construction to proceed more quickly and smoothly,” said Litzinger.

Organization and Collaboration Aid Environmental Efforts
Protecting the 260 native plants and wildlife species living near the road expansion isn’t easy. Environmental team members must proactively address issues and think outside the box. This can be facilitated by:

Encouraging the construction management team to intimately know their environmental permits.
Maintaining constant communication between construction managers and the environmental team to keep the entire group on the same page.
Combining mitigation efforts between adjacent projects, if feasible. Dudek developed an off-site mitigation strategy in conjunction with an adjacent project. The single mitigation solution for two projects benefited both the city and the private developer.
Establishing a single point of contact on the construction management team to streamline communications and provide consistent decision-making.

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