The Johns Creek City Council has voted to rescind the Buice Road “traffic calming” contract and re-award the project to the second-lowest bidder after the first contractor allegedly put the public’s safety at risk.
CMEC LLC was awarded a $589,743 contract May 20 to remove existing speed tables and build traffic-calming solutions for Buice between Jones Bridge and Kimball Bridge roads. On Monday, Aug. 5, the council rescinded the contract and gave it to Proterra Development LLC, which had bid $629,690 for the job.
In a report to the council, Public Works Director Lynette Baker said the city and its engineering consultant documented three near-miss head-on collisions after CMEC failed to provide adequate traffic control.
The contractor also cut an unmarked AT&T fiber line while excavating where a concrete sidewalk was to be poured, causing an outage in parts of the Pinewalk subdivision, Baker said. CMEC allegedly failed to notify the city or utility and poured new concrete over the break, requiring the sidewalk to be broken up to make repairs.
Baker also noted concrete poured during rain – the structures will need to be removed and re-poured – and that only two CMEC personnel had current traffic control training certifications. The project requires at least three certified persons on site every day.
“Based on these breaches of contract, staff has no confidence that CMEC can successfully perform the work required for the project,” Baker said. “No payments have or are anticipated to be made to CMEC for the work they performed.”
