The $105 million Rueter-Hess Reservoir three miles south of Parker consists of a 16,000-acre-ft water supply reservoir, diversion structure and pump stations. Though the project isn't scheduled for completion until next year, plans are already under way to more than quadruple the reservoir's size by 2010.
Map courtesy of Parker Water and Sanitation District |
As far as Doug Voss is concerned, the Rueter-Hess Reservoir three miles south of Parker is "the foremost project on the Front Range of Colorado."
Nearly 20 years in the making, Rueter-Hess certainly is a grand endeavor. Designed by GEI Consulting Inc., the $105 million project consists of a 16,000-acre-ft water supply reservoir, diversion structure and pump stations, with plans already under way to more than quadruple its size.
"This reservoir is the first one of its type of [environmental] permitting west of the Mississippi River in many years," said Voss, onsite construction manager for Weaver General Construction, the general contractor. "No one believed they could build this."
Ground was broken at the site 13 months ago, with completion expected in 2006. Meanwhile, because of interest from surrounding communities such as Castle Rock, Castle Pines North and Stonegate, the Parker Water and Sanitation District is moving forward to expand the reservoir to 70,000 acre ft.
The Rueter-Hess design team is expected to submit the proposal for the expanded project for review next May; if the new permit is granted in late 2006, expansion construction could begin in 2007, with completion set for 2010.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is conducting an expanded environmental impact statement on the proposed reservoir enlargement.
Much of the construction focus this fall has been on the 1,500-ft-wide, 135-ft-high earthen dam.
"We're well under way with the earthwork, grouting for the centerline, grouting the curtain wall," Voss said. "We've got our large gate tower structures under way, as well as our inlet piping from the reservoir to the tower and our large conduit piping from the tower out to the terminal facilities."
SEMA Construction is handling the earthwork; Ames Construction is building the large structure conduits; and Heyward Baker is handling the curtain wall grouting.
Construction began in July on the Pine Brook Dam and Reservoir, a $5 million project that will feature a 93-ft-high roller-compacted concrete dam with a soil embankment blanket. The dam, 600 ft long at the top, is designed to hold back up to 130 acre ft of water.
Photo courtesy of the Pine Brook Water District |
Pine Brook Dam In Boulder County, construction began in July on the Pine Brook Dam and Reservoir, a $5 million project that features a 93-ft-high roller-compacted concrete dam with a soil embankment blanket. The dam, 600 ft long at the top, is designed to hold back up to 130 acre ft of water.
Most of the aggregate material for the RCC will come from an onsite quarry, said Project Engineer Justin Cunningham of ASI/RCC Inc., the designer and general contractor.
"For the size of this project and the location - it's in the middle of a subdivision - that's somewhat odd," Cunningham said. "We've erected an onsite concrete batch plant and we're batching our own concrete. It's just more efficient, less expensive and gives us more control."
The project is an important one for Pine Brook, a mountain community on the border of northwest Boulder, said Robert de Haas, manager of the Pine Brook Water District. "We've had some bad droughts in the last 10 years, and that's created a lot of change in the way people look at water rights," he said. "[This] will allow us to store water we already own during times water is available, for times when it isn't."
The project could finish by the end of the year. "We hope to start filling it in March," de Haas said.
Making Way for Homes Residential site development continues to be an active market for many excavation contractors.
"It's been a busy year," said Lloyd Kuehn, CFO for Scott Contracting Inc., an infrastructure contractor currently preparing land for KB Home's new Canyon View development in Golden. The estimated $3 million project may not be the contractor's biggest job, but it is an important one because Scott Contracting has taken a turnkey approach.
"It's a little different because we're funding construction for a little bit of time," said Lloyd Kuehn, Scott Contracting's CFO. "We're doing everything but the dirt work and the landscaping; we're subcontracting that out."
Crews began crushing rock at Canyon View in late August. They're expected to turn over the first lots for model homes by the end of this month.
Meanwhile, the company has also worked on two communities in Aurora - Adonea and Blackstone Country Club.
Scott won the bids for Filings 1 and 2 of the three-part, $11 million Adonea project, a 500-lot residential development with some major sitework features. They include a 30-in. sanitary sewer that will go to a depth of 45 ft; a 30-in. steel trunk line to service the site and beyond; and three large box culvert structures, two of them off 6th Avenue, and the other off 3rd Avenue.
Work began there in November 2004 and could finish by the end of this month.
The $16 million site development project at Blackstone Country Club - also set to finish soon - includes an onsite recycled water storage facility for an 18-hole golf course.
"All the stormwater will be recycled through a series of settling ponds," said Project Manager Graham May.
"We also built two very large conveyances for golf carts with sewer lines running underneath them," he said.
Taylor Kohrs recently completed horizontal construction work for the final phase of the Steeplechase residential subdivision in Windsor.
The work included infrastructure and utility preparation for 52 two-acre residential lots on behalf of Fiest & Associates.
"We understand that not everything touches the sky in commercial construction, and that some of the most important building projects remain at ground level," said Scott Kohrs of Taylor Kohrs.
Some of the company's most recent horizontal projects include Arista, Country Club Village, Somerset Village Shopping Center, Quebec Square at Stapleton and the Ranch Reserve II.
Van Bibber Creek One much-anticipated, high-profile project is nearing its end - the $9 million Van Bibber Creek realignment project under construction for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in partnership with the city of Arvada.
Arapahoe Utilities & Infrastructure is the general contractor for the project, designed to realign Van Bibber Creek, an area that has historically flooded during periods of high runoff.
Work has included 250,000 cu yds of excavation, with 15,000 cu yds of poured-in-place concrete and three million lbs of reinforcing steel. The goal is to redirect the water and enclose 1,000 ft of open channel upstream of the box culvert with a box liner.
The 28-month project was broken into two segments.
"There were seven phases in Segment 1, and five of those phases will be completed in mid-October," said Kent Phillips, AUI's vice president of business development. "We'll finish the other two additional phases, and then Segment 2 will take place through the rest of the year and into spring of next year."
The box culvert has been completed and "what remains to be done is essentially the rest of the open channel," he said.
The Van Bibber Creek realignment presented challenges from the start, including intense political scrutiny from regulatory agencies, Phillips said. It took more than two decades for negotiations and design. "After 20 years of haggling, they finally decided it was time," he said.
Of course, the obstacles haven't completely ended, even though the finish line is in sight.
"The cement shortage is placing some challenges as far as the scheduling, but we have been able to work through them," Phillips said.
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