Have you ever wondered how to become the project manager for
a $200 million redesign and reconstruction project? It?s simple: just
ask.
Well, there may be other variables involved, but
that?s essentially what Denise Casalino did to become the project manager
for the $200 million Wacker Drive reconstruction project in Chicago.
In her first assignment as project manager, Casalino used a
balance of diplomacy, engineering and people skills to manage and complete the
project within a 21-month time frame near the end of 2002, and within the
projected budget.
For this installment of Industry Interview, Transportation
Management + Engineering recently asked Casalino what led to her becoming
project manager for the Wacker Drive reconstruction, her experiences in this
role, as well as what?s on tap for the next leg of the Wacker Drive
project--a $250 million job scheduled to begin in two years.
[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]
TM+E: What inspired you to pursue a career in the
transportation engineering field?
Casalino: My parents encouraged me to go into engineering
since I was younger. In college I chose civil engineering as my major. By my
senior year, I was leaning towards transportation. It has such an impact on
everyone?s everyday life. I liked the challenge of that.
TM+E: Besides the Wacker Drive project, what other major
transportation design/engineering projects have you been involved with?
Casalino: Prior to joining the city of Chicago in 1995, I
worked at various divisions of Waste Management. The last project I worked on
for the firm was the reconstruction of the Cermak Road Bridge over the South
Branch Chicago River. My client was the city of Chicago. When that job was
complete, the Chicago Department of Transportation offered me a job.
Since being at the Chicago DOT, I have been involved in a
lot of our major bridge projects in some capacity. Assisting the project
manager on the Michigan Avenue Viaduct project was a great lead in.
TM+E: How did you end up becoming the project manager for
the Wacker Drive reconstruction project?
Casalino: I simply walked into the chief engineer?s
office and asked if I could be the project manager and he said
?yes.?
Not quite the exciting story people expect to hear.
TM+E: What measures were incorporated into the
project?s design to improve traffic flow and reduce congestion on both
upper and lower Wacker?
Casalino: The existing Wacker Drive had several design flaws
that were outdated for today?s design. Most notably was the eastbound
cross section on the upper level. The roadway varied between two-and-a-half to
three lanes.
As part of the design we designed a consistent three lanes
in each direction cross section. In addition, two of the intersections, Lake
Street and Wabash Avenue, had ramps that allowed lower Wacker traffic to come
up to the upper level.
Their entrances onto the upper level were not safe and
didn?t work well with the intersections. Therefore, we removed both of
them. The one at Wabash Avenue was rebuilt as a pedestrian ramp and the ramp at
Lake Street was relocated so that the exit is now at Randolph Street
intersection with its own phase of the traffic signal for entrance.
The major changes to the lower level were that we realigned
the roadway at the east and west ends, which allows much better horizontal
alignment.
TM+E: Were there ever situations in which you found
yourself, or other engineers, having to improvise or make adjustments and
changes to the original designs?
Casalino: The work that probably had the most improvisation
was the underground work. Attempting to lay new sewer and water main in
75-year-old right-of-way is quite a challenge.
The plans could only guess as to where the existing
utilities were but no one was sure until we opened everything up. In addition,
in one section of the project new grade beams were required. Again, because of
the utilities, placement of the grade beams was often designed in the field to
find a location that worked.
The other big adjustment was the connection of the new
columns with the old caissons. Originally, based on the original plans there
were many details presented to the contractor to handle this. To make life
easier we made adjustments to the design in the field so that there was limited
connection details. Limiting details streamlines the contractor?s production
schedule.
TM+E: A unique situation involved the removal and
installation of the Chicago Transit Authority?s elevated structure at the
intersection of Wells and Wacker. Describe this situation, why it was necessary
and how it took place over the span of one weekend.
Casalino: The existing CTA structure over Wells Street was a
two span structure over the intersection.
On the upper level, the columns fell in the middle of the
roadway at the median. On the lower level, though, they fell in the center of
the inner westbound lane, thus creating a bottleneck.
Therefore, we decided to completely replace the two spans
with one. In addition, due to track layout and steel conditions the spans to
the north and south were also replaced.
The CTA?s Brown Line carries tens of thousands of
passengers a day. Therefore, the time that the line was out of service had to
be minimized. The CTA allowed a 56-hour work period over one weekend. For every
minute that the contractor was late, they were looking at a $1,000 per minute
penalty!
The scope of the work included the complete replacement of
three spans. The longest span being 111 ft and weighing 425 tons. Due to the
extent of the work, staging it over multiple weekends was not an option.
Walsh Construction Co. working with Delgado Erectors,
utilized the Mammoet Hydraulic Dolly system for the roll in of the new
structure. The long span was completely erected to the east of the existing
structure, tracks and all. On the Saturday morning of the weekend shutdown,
after demolition was complete, the new structure was rolled into place. It was
moved 75 ft to the west and 5 ft to the north.
The entire process finished over two hours ahead of
schedule.
TM+E: Many of the businesses that line the perimeter of
the Wacker Drive project experienced a decline in business during the two-year
construction project. How important was it to work closely with the affected
businesses?
Casalino: The city of Chicago learned our lessons well on
earlier projects that communications with adjacent properties is key. In 1997,
we reconstructed the Michigan Avenue Viaduct, another two level roadway. It was
only three blocks but we learned a lot doing that project. It was during that
project that the planning for the communication efforts on Wacker Drive began.
The adjacent properties on Wacker Drive knew that we would
be coming in the near future as early as 1997. Just prior to the project
starting, we really intensified our outreach. During the construction we had
standing weekly project meetings. At those meetings we presented the two-week
look ahead schedule and answered questions and addressed concerns. The key is
that if people know ahead of time what is happening and they can plan for it,
things go smoothly.
TM+E: What were the keys to the successful and safe
completion of the Wacker Drive project?
Casalino: A plan was laid out early on in the project and we
never varied from it. In addition, we hired dream teams for both the
engineering design and the construction management. It truly was a fantastic
team that we put together.
TM+E: Is there anything you, as project manager, would
have done differently?
Casalino: Hindsight is twenty-twenty, however, for a project
of this scope and magnitude it went pretty well and I learned a lot. The times
I felt I messed up were when I assumed that people knew certain things.
It is better to not worry about insulting someone?s
intelligence and keep asking questions.
TM+E: The process will start all over again in a couple
of years with the reconstruction of the north/south section of Wacker Drive. As
project manager for this section, what lessons will you carry over from the
recently completed assignment?
Casalino: There are many design issues that were solved on
this first section that will definitely be carried over to the next section.
During construction we found kind of the weak coordination points between
disciplines that will have to be double-checked--for instance
architectural attachments to a structure. TME
RSS: Roads & Bridges Articles
