Globe Miami Times Connecting you to the Pulse of Globe Miami
The Pinal Creek Bridge project, aka Connie’s Bridge, is nearly a year behind schedule, but the City is focused on the long-term viability of the bridge rather than the reasons behind the delays or a timeline to completion.
“I’m not really worried about a deadline,” says Globe Mayor Al Gameros. “I’m more concerned about quality and making sure we get the bridge that we really anticipate, not only structurally, but in design as well.”
To that end, the City is working with the Meridian Engineering Company to ensure the final project is engineered and built to last another 50 to 100 years.
The original bridge was built in 1920 and has been repaired and widened twice over the course of time. ADOT classified the bridge to be in “poor” condition and even lowered the maximum weight limit from 20 to 10 tons.
Meridian is a Tucson-based construction firm founded in 2003 that builds critical infrastructure throughout the southwest and specializes in heavy civil and industrial construction.
Council approved the $5.5 million project in November 2022, with construction slated to begin in January 2023 and a completion date of September that year. But a number of unforeseen problems caused serious delays, some that were beyond Meridian’s control and others led to the need for a complete redesign of the structure.
The wet winter of 2022-2023 halted construction with three months’ of consistent flow in the creek and more recent monsoon flooding contributed. In addition to weather delays, ongoing coordination with the railroads and other agencies, also slowed things down.
Representatives from Meridian presented a public update to Council on July 23, largely taking responsibility for structural problems that arose in the early stages of the project.
If not for monitoring by City officials, particularly the efforts of City Engineer Luis Chavez, the bridge may have had serious flaws built in that likely would not have shown up for years.
“I think the City of Globe is fortunate to have a former ADOT engineer on staff who has the experience in the construction of over 100 bridges in his career,” says City Manager Paul Jepson. “He understands the complexities of a project like this.”
Jepson added that were it not for the cooperation of all stakeholders involved, the project, which is a cornerstone of all the development Globe is planning for access along Jesse Hayes Road, might have stopped in its tracks.
“We have to look at the environment when this project came to fruition: It was the tail end of the pandemic and Washington DC was pumping dollars out to invest in infrastructure,” Jepson says. “So you had a lot of projects and shortages of both concrete and labor. We didn’t run into too much of that, but every construction company was dealing with multiple projects and multiple opportunities that stretched their resources.”
Connie’s Bridge replacement is just one piece of a series of projects intended to increase walkability along Jesse Hayes Road and connect the Community Center and the refurbished pool to the downtown area, as well as easing traffic flows to the Globe Ranger Station and the Gila Pueblo Campus.
Moving forward, Jepson and Chavez will attend weekly meetings with Meridian to monitor progress and ensure quality construction.
“Meridan will finish this,” said Meridian representative Eric Lydia at the July 23 meeting. “We started it and we’ll finish it. … Schedule-wise it probably won’t be as scheduled, but the quality and the structural integrity of it will be there.”
Gameros says that thanks to the Council’s focus on attracting quality employees, many future problems have likely been avoided.
“We’re lucky to have such a committed group,” Gameros says. “This is something that we couldn’t have done on our own without our partners and the contractor is being really good about it. We want residents to understand why there have been delays and that it’s not costing us any more money.”
Code updates
On August 14 (after press time), the City of Globe presented its preliminary building code updates to stakeholders in the community.
The process that began nearly two years ago with the hiring of Building Official Tony Manfredi has been ongoing but should be ready for adoption by next January.
Globe’s current codes are from 2003 and the updates will bring them to 2021 standards. The state updates building codes every three years, so once Globe’s codes are brought up to those standards, Manfredi expects updates to happen every other cycle. The next code update would be scheduled for 2027.
The codes will align with International Codes and Standards published by the International Code Council (ICC) used in municipalities throughout the world. There is a baseline set of codes that are tailored for each community based on local climate, types of construction and other factors.
Manfredi says the work has been going on for more than a year and has been a collaboration between his office, the fire marshal and a third-party consultant to help identify necessary amendments. Unnecessary or out of date codes will be taken off the books as well.
“This will make permitting easier, more efficient and understandable,” Manfredi says. “Adoption of up-to-date code is the most efficient and effective measure in creating safe environments that protect and improve public health, safety and welfare, as well as the economic interest of the community. It keeps up with professional designers’ best practices, latest technology, improves design options and provides opportunities for cost savings by being able to use these new options.”
The updates will also make it easier for the City to communicate with contractors who already operate under the most modern building codes, which they must do in order to be licensed with the state.
Mayor Gameros, who retired from the Globe Fire Department in 2016 after 29 years of service, 18 of those as chief, says building codes are important for public safety and the safety of public servants.
“I think people get the wrong idea of what code does,” Gameros says. “Codes are established not to work against the developer or the property owner, they’re developed for the safety of the public and protection of property.”
Gameros adds that adhering to current municipal code standards can also improve a community’s Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating—also known as a fire score—which can lower insurance rates for property owners. The City hopes to have the updates in place before the next ISO inspection at the beginning of 2025.
Once Globe’s codes are up to 2021 standards, Manfredi says the city plans to do updates every other cycle, in order to reduce the cost of the work and to help future councils maintain the baseline.
Ultimately, building codes are about safety and creating guidelines and standards that are applied fairly to all citizens.
“It’s about treating everybody equally and making sure everybody operates off the same concept,” Gameros says. “It doesn’t affect you if you don’t think about it, until something happens and then it’s too late.”
Journalist, writer and editor who has worked for community newspapers for more than 15 years. After four years at Davis-Monthan AFB and a few years living in Tucson, moved to California to find his fortune. He is happy to be back in Arizona, in the mountains he loves.
