Fwd: Keith Kridler letter to the editor re: the 271 bridge

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From: "Eric & Barbara Bruechner" <ericmb84@gmail.com>
Date: January 18, 2014 at 9:16:28 PM CST
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Keith Kridler letter to the editor re: the 271 bridge

A PORTION OF THIS LETTER WAS PRINTED IN THE WEEKEND EDITION OF THE LOCAL DAILY PAPER. THIS IS THE LETTER IN FULL. KEITH IS A CANDIDATE FOR THE PRECINCT 4 COMMISSIONER SEAT BEING VACATED BY THOMAS HOCKADAY. I  WILL BE GLAD TO FORWARD LETTERS FROM ANY CANDIDATES ON THIS ISSUE.

BARBARA BRUECHNER

Brian and all,

 

PTP admitted that there have been multiple surveys dating back to 2006 with up to at least four different surveys between then and start of construction in 2012. Each survey should have included elevation shots of the top of the rails, top of the railroad ties and then elevation shots at various surrounding locations to establish how much road materials they would have to bring in along every foot of the right of way. Back in 1992 I used an $85 GPS unit and software program to map out and pinpoint 200+ bluebird nesting boxes, in Titus, Camp and Morris counties, within 36 inches in vertical elevation and horizontal positioning and this also pinpointed them on county maps that is/was used by Cornell University.

 

I would have to listen to a recording of the meeting but I do not recall PTP representatives actually stating that THEY, PTP, did not really know how high the rails had been raised from 2006<2013. They kept referring to UPRR (Union Pacific Railroad) folks themselves NOT being able to say exactly if and or how much the rails might have been raised. They kept repeating that UPRR did not know how much ballast was installed along the tracks. It DOES NOT MATTER how much ballast was brought in, it ONLY matters how much if ANY that the rails themselves were raised within the right of way!

 

IF the surveyors set up their GNSS  base equipment correctly, then the accuracy of their roving GPS units would be accurate to within 1.33 inches in elevation within an 8 KM radius of the base station equipment. PTP & road contractors MISSED their target height by FIFTEEN inches on one end and THIRTY SIX inches on the other end????? Has ANYONE from our county actually taken out a measuring stick to actually measure the height currently between the bridge beams and the railroad rails???

 

EACH one of these road surveys dating back to 2006 should have EVERY ONE of their data points laid out over a map of Titus County. Today a surveyor would be able to go back out there and find EACH spot to within ONE INCH and double check or verify these readings. There should be hundreds if not thousands of readings along each mile of these right of ways dating back to 2006. Again it has NOTHING to do with UPRR not knowing how much "ballast" they used. If I build a two story house and the blue prints call for each floor/story to have a full 12 foot tall inside ceiling height and the owners come in and ask WHY the second floor ceiling is only 9 feet tall, do you THINK I can blame or sue in court my cement contractor for bringing in TOO MUCH/36 inches of fill sand under the slab of cement that I built the walls upon??? The the Union Pacific rail road tracks have been sitting out there all during this road construction. It is NOT the fault of Titus County taxpayers that PTP, and or the road contractor failed to use common sense and re-measure the height of the rails just before they began work on the columns and then again just before they capped off the bridge columns at the correct height.

 

 

The $1.8 million cap on this repair, WILL ALL be spent, ANY contractor on a big job can add in enough hours, bring in enough equipment, linger over the job, racking up hours until he milks the cow dry. This $1.8 million change order/repair, plus interest will actually cost about $3,313,890.00 by the time I turn 82 in 2036 and our taxpayers finish paying off the bill. You all, as commissioners of the court allowed PTP to waltz through that meeting without a single hard question. You did not ask a single question that would/could be used in legal court against PTP and or force them to embarrass themselves. Made my blood boil when he told you all that "This is NOT the time, to blame someone for this forced change order". We had them in the room with all of us, when WOULD it be a good time to blame them. Their incompetence has resulted in around $3 million being stolen from Titus County and the State of Texas Taxpayers. I would suggest that Titus county IMMEDIATELY issue subpoenas for ALL of the survey data that has been collected by the various survey crews, any road equipment that collected and stored GPS data, (each road grader out there has a GPS unit to show current blade height and location) and include ANY of the sub-contractors that collected and stored GPS data. There is a "good chance" that some or all of this data will/might disappear, just as PTP admitted that they have no records of "receiving" some of the e-mails regarding this tragic, costly mistake already.

 

Respectfully Keith Kridler

Recipients