Engineering company will pay to re-lay Flint street bricks where wrong sand was used - MLive.com

FLINT, MI - The engineer on a massive project to rebuild the primary brick street through downtown Flint will pay to remove and re-lay tens of thousands of bricks after contractors used the wrong type of sand to lock them into place this summer.

"The bricks between Court and Third Streets will be reinstalled with polymer sand at the engineering firm's expense -- not the taxpayers," City Engineer Mark Adas said in a statement to MLive-The Flint Journal. "The completed segment of Saginaw Street between Third and Second streets is not impacted. The current phase of construction between Second and First Streets is moving forward on time as planned. We encourage our community to support our local businesses during this unexpected additional street closure."

Detroit-based Wade Trim, which is being paid more than $800,000 for construction engineering services on the project, was identified by a city spokeswoman as the company that will pay for crews to take out and re-lay bricks that were laid earlier this year on Saginaw Street, between Fifth and Third streets.

The spokeswoman offered no further explanation of how the wrong type of sand was used in that two-block area.

The Journal has been unable to reach Adas for additional comment on the setback, but the city also released a statement from him last week, indicating that most of the brickwork that was carried out this summer will be redone after officials saw the bricks shifting in the roadbed just weeks after they were replaced or relaid by hand.

In all, the brick section of Saginaw Street contains an estimated 750,000 clay bricks with some of them dating back to when the road was first laid in 1898.

The Journal also could not immediately reach a Wade Trim representative at either its offices in Flint or Detroit for comment on Monday, Oct. 2.

City officials have said it will take approximately three weeks to rebuild each block of Saginaw Street where non-polymer sand was used.

The city said Monday that utility upgrades and brick restoration between Second and First streets are expected to be complete by the end of November as planned. The overall project is expected to continue next year, moving north to the Flint River.

This year's project is the first complete reconstruction of Saginaw Street in 87 years. Since spring, crews have been working on the project, which has snarled traffic in the downtown area and required workers to shift their schedules to accommodate major events and festivals in the city's downtown throughout the spring and summer.

The city said in an announcement Monday that Saginaw Street remains closed between Court and Fourth streets but is open between Fourth and Third streets. Court, Fourth and Third streets are open to traffic and street parking is open in the area.

Saginaw Street is closed between Third and First streets and Second Street is closed between Brush Alley and Beach Street. Water mains are being replaced in those areas as part of the infrastructure project.

Flint is using $3.4 million in city funds to pay its share of the $5.8-million project. In addition to those costs, the city is paying $2.8 million to replace a water main underneath the street.

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Read more at The Flint Journal:

Brick by brick, Flint's massive Saginaw Street reconstruction is right on schedule

Blocks of bricks will be relaid in Flint after wrong sand used to lock them in place

Attempt to recall Flint councilwoman falls short with one-third of signatures invalid

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