Front-porch approach

The challenge for the team overseeing reconstruction of Roop Street in the heart of Carson City is straightforward:

Compress a job that ordinarily would take the better part of two construction seasons into one season, and stay in close communication with business owners and residents to reduce their angst over a project on a heavily traveled street.

The communications plan developed by Bowling Mamola Group, the project manager, is working well, and it's helping Peavine Construction stay close to the project's scheduled completion at Thanksgiving.

The $3.5 million project involves widening Roop from Robinson Street to Beverly Drive.

Crews are removing the existing surface along the half-mile stretch, completing underground sewer, water and storm drain improvements, burying the existing overhead utilities and then repaving.

It's a big job, one that ordinarily might take the better part of two construction seasons. But given the disruption in the heart of Carson City, the city staff wants the work to be completed during 2010.

By the time they're done, crews will use 10,000 cubic yards of aggregate base, 218,000 square feet of bituminous pavement, 8,300 lineal feet of new curb and gutter, 37,500 square feet of new sidewalk, and new traffic lights and signs.

But equally important, says Patty Mamola of Bowling Mamola Group, the project's team is using lots of paper and lots of time on front porches to make sure that residents and business owners are informed.

"We're trying to be respectful of the people of Carson City," says Mamola. "After working in construction for awhile you realize there isn't much communication between residents, business owners and workers."

The public outreach effort of many street construction jobs consists of a letter mailed out before the work begins, and maybe a postcard or two when parking or water service will be affected. The communications plan created by Bowling Mamola Group, in contrast, delivers a steady stream of updates about the Roop Street project.

Business owners and residents receive letters that detail the specific work that's scheduled within the next week or so. They get maps of the work. They get timelines.

And representatives of Peavine Construction and Bowling Mamola Group have followed up with numerous front-porch meetings to talk with residents.

"You've got to look at things from their perspective," says Randy Bowling, a principal in Bowling Mamola Group and resident of Carson City. A key, he says, is making sure that no one is surprised by the course of a project or reducing the worries when inevitable surprises develop.

When a water line broke during construction, for instance, a nearby restaurant was left without water service and faced a serious threat to its business while repairs were under way.

Construction crews took the owner onto the job site, showed him the problem and explained the challenges they faced in repairing the broken pipe. He understood the problem and was patient until it was resolved.

"It's extra work, but the public deserves it," Mamola says.

And the public's needs have helped shape the project's timetable. A major piece of the work, for instance, threatened to tie up the heavily traveled intersection of Roop Street and East William Street the route of Highway 50 through eastern Carson City for days.

After thinking about the needs of residents and folks who commute to offices in the neighborhood, Peavine Construction and the engineering team decided instead to make a major push during a weekend marathon of construction.The communications plan hasn't entirely eliminated public complaints, Bowling says, but the concerns about the Roop Street project appear to be fewer than managers would expect from a project of its size.

And the lessened amount of grumbling, Bowling says, has allowed engineers and builders to devote their attention to the project's timelines rather than solutions to complaints.

Mamola says the project's planners have learned, too, from watching how the ripples of good communication spread throughout the community.

The Carson City Library, for instance, used its presence on Facebook to show patrons how to find parking while the street in front of the library was torn up.

That, in turn, inspired Bowling and Mamola to make a note to use social media such as Facebook and Twitter to keep residents and business owners informed about future projects the company takes on.