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Buildings
WTC Cleanup Agency Begins Ramping Up Operations
(enr.com
11/08/01)
By Debra K. Rubin and Janice L. Tuchman
New york city officials managing cleanup of the World Trade Center are asserting more control of the disaster site and expediting operations by limiting the number of police and fire personnel handling victim recovery operations. Officials say the move is necessary to assure safety as debris removal accelerates, but it sparked several days of confrontation with city firefighters.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani ordered that the number of city firefighters, police and Port Authority of New York & New Jersey police searching for the remains of still-missing colleagues be cut to 25 each. A few uniformed "spotters" would be assigned close to debris to check for remains, "but others will be on the outside," Kenneth Holden, commissioner of the city's cleanup manager, the Dept. of Design and Construction, told ENR. "It is a safety issue, even though it is emotionally difficult." He says there have been only two "significant" injuries since Sept. 11. "No one familiar with the work can deny it has progressed safely and efficiently," Holden adds.
AMBITIOUS. But DDC and its contractors
are pushing to meet what even officials admit is the "ambitious"
goal to have all buildings at grade by Dec. 31, when Giuliani leaves
office. Reaching that milestone may also allow DDC to end round-the-clock
cleanup and implement a 10-hour, six-day workweek, officials say.
Holden says debris removal and infrastructure costs could reach
$2.5 billion, although that is "very preliminary."
Turner Construction Corp.'s completion of Seven WTC demolition will soon end its role as a quadrant prime contractor, but the firm will be devising an "as-built schedule" for site work, "to recreate what occurred day by day," says Holden. But "time will tell" on any larger role for Turner. The city is also planning demolition of WTC Four, Five and Six, says DDC Executive Deputy Commissioner Michael Burton. The work is to be awarded mostly lump-sum, but officials are concerned because one wall of the collapsed One WTC tower is leaning against Six WTC. "We have to take it down in a safe manner before we can demolish," he says.
With about one-third of site debris now removed, cleanup officials are focusing on underground utilities. Holden says 60% of city sewers have been checked remotely and sustained only minor damage. But there is road damage at the site caused by heavy equipment. DDC contractors have been shoring underground subway lines to allow crews to bring in large cranes on three sides of Five WTC to speed demolition, says Burton.
Private utility work is also a concern. Verizon Corp. is only now completing restoration of temporary telephone service in the area served by its West St. facility, which suffered significant damage in the attacks. Verizon estimates it will take a year to repair structural damage before employees can return, according to recent minutes of the city's multi-agency Infrastructure Recovery Workgroup. Burton says DDC sewer and telephone repair support as well as interfacing with Consolidated Edison utility work will be handled by one contractor team.
DDC will also assist the port authority to seal damaged path station tunnels from the New York side to begin dewatering operations and eventual reconstruction. New Jersey entrances are already plugged. "We have to begin controlling our own water," says Bill Cote, a York Hunter executive assisting DDC in cleanup management. Officials say they have managed to lower the water table 10 ft around the WTC "bathtub."
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