Bury the Wires and Tame the Traffic
Working Meeting, April 9, 2003
On Wednesday, April 9, 2003, a meeting was held at the Loudoun County DGS offices to review the progress of the project entitled Preliminary Engineering Services to “Bury the Wires and Tame the Traffic” in Waterford, VA. The attendees of the meeting were the following:
- Sheryl Gates (Loudoun County Department of General Services)
- Eric Breitkreutz (Waterford Foundation)
- Nick Santore (B2E Consulting Engineering)
- John Martin and Stephanie Cutlip (Kimley-Horn and Associates)
Discussion
The meeting began at 9:30 AM with a review of progress to date. With data collection approaching completion, the team’s attention is turning to the analysis of the data. John Martin reviewed the tasks:
- Mapping: Digital base mapping has been obtained for use in roadway and drainage planning.
- Drainage / Civil: Survey of roadway cross sections at specific locations around the village was acquired during the week of March 31st. Site inspection of sanitary sewers indicates that they are buried fairly deep (10’ – 12’ below pavement).
- Roadway: Locations for pavement coring were marked in the field on April 9th. Pending weather conditions, coring will take place on Monday, April 14th.
- Traffic: 24-hour traffic tube counts were completed during the week of March 31st.
- Electrical: Field reconnaissance was completed during the week of March 7th, and existing conditions were documented by photograph.
- Environmental: All of WEG’s field work has been completed.
Nick presented his findings on the electrical system within Waterford, and made some suggestions as to the best way to convert overhead facilities into underground facilities. He suggested that placing distribution lines and associated infrastructure through easements along the back portion of properties might be a better alternative to placement in the roadway. Eric stated that there are existing easements in alleyways between some properties dating back to the 1870s and 1880s. This property may have reverted to Loudoun County ownership at some time in the past. Sheryl stated that HDRC (Historic District Review Committee) should be aware of any existing easements, and suggested contacting Heidi Seibentritt.
Nick has also been in contact with phone and cable service providers. Cable and telephone lines will tend to follow the placement of the electric lines, and will use the same trench. Nick also presented some challenges to converting overhead lines to underground service. The existing Waterford distribution system is single-phase. To be placed in the ground, the system will need to be converted to three-phase, since underground transformers are not available to handle single-phase power.
Replacement of existing electrical services to private property will necessitate installation by a private electrician and inspection by the Loudoun County electrical inspector. If the inspector observes violations of safety and fire codes, repairs and/or upgrades will need to be made to bring wiring up to code. It is impossible to tell at this time which buildings will need to be upgraded, and this will have to be looked at on a case-by-case basis when the implementation phase begins.
John discussed the next steps the study will take. The project team is now in a position to begin looking at traffic calming, roadway, drainage, and electrical alternatives. An option for an easement along the north side of Water Street will be looked at to provide a walking trail for school-related pedestrian traffic. Eric emphasized that all improvements will need to maintain the rural, rustic character of the village.
It was decided that the next progress meeting would be most productive if scheduled after the project team has their April 30th work session. The next meeting is thus planned for Wednesday, May 7, 2003 at 9:30 AM.
The meeting concluded at 10:30 AM.
Action Items
- Pending confirmation from John, Eric will notify Waterford citizens that pavement coring is to take place. This process is likely to cause some traffic disruption.
- Kimley-Horn: Pursue existing easement data through Eric and Loudoun County Mapping.
- Kimley-Horn: Distribute copies of minutes within one week of meetings.
On-Going Action Items
- Team members from the consultant team finalize the data collection tasks (within Task 1) within the Scope of Services within the next few weeks, and begin to analyze this data with respect to Engineering Studies of Traffic Calming, Utility Relocations, Stormwater Management, and Roadway Alignment. See Scope for details.
- Team members from Kimley-Horn, B2E Consulting Engineering, Gordon Associates, Engineering Consulting Services, Ltd.(ECS), Williamsburg Environmental Group (WEG), and Louis Berger Group (LBG) meet to coordinate efforts and work through design and planning issues. Meeting scheduled for April 30.
- KHA and teammates compile list of additional services and fee proposal to include additional meetings, “marketing piece” deliverable, and environmental document deliverable.
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