Cleanup of diesel spill taking longer than planned

According to public documents, the cleanup of a diesel plume in the area targeted for Lincoln’s new arena will take longer than originally planned and cost about $400,000 more than projected.

The arena development is largely taking place on the active railyard west of the Haymarket — where there is a diesel plume about the size of a city block northwest of Lincoln Station. General Excavating of Lincoln was hired to remove the diesel.

The three-member Joint Public Agency overseeing construction of the project will be asked Thursday to approve a change order that will — among other things — give the excavating company more time to do the job. The documents indicate originally the contractor was scheduled to begin work Dec. 22 and finish the remediation of the diesel spill in 55 days, by Feb. 15. But due to delay of approval of the contract, the “notice to proceed” wasn’t issued until Jan. 13.

General Excavating argued weather caused delays, too, but the city said weather delays should have been taken into account when the company submitted its bid, since the work was to be done during the winter and the city had “unseasonably favorable” conditions during most of that time frame. The city is proposing that the JPA grant a seven-day extension due to weather to account for blizzard conditions the first week of February.

The JPA will also be asked to grant a 25-day extension due to BNSF’s delay in completing an overhead power line relocation and no temporary power to do the work.

All in all, the change order will change the target date for the work to be substantially completed to May 10.

“While the West Haymarket Redevelopment Project is on a very aggressive timeline, we understand that there may be additional requests for extensions of time due to unforeseen circumstances,” Ernesto Castillo of the Urban Development Department wrote to the contractor.