Rick Lapp, a Portland Water Bureau Senior Engineering Associate, manages all construction activities on the Powell Butte project that involve piping, site utilities, phone lines and fiber communications.

"Anything round or underground" is how Rick humorously summarizes his areas of responsibility, which include managing subcontractors, monitoring inspections and coordinating work flow with the other project managers to ensure the reservoir is ready to go on-line in 2014.

Rick say his style of management is summed up the motto: Talk Early and Talk Often. "It keeps us all on the same page."

Rick has been a City of Portland employee for 21 years, five years working on pump station projects with Bureau of Environmental Services, and the past 16 years with the Portland Water Bureau.

Construction activity on Powell Butte has been progressing at a brisk and intense pace. This summer and early fall, contractors and Portland Water Bureau staff have been working on all facets of the project - the reservoir, Caretaker's House, Interpretive Center, Maintenance Building, parking lots, drain and inspection vaults, stormwater management facilities, and site utilities. Throughout the site, equipment and workers are in constant motion - moving soil, pouring concrete, hoisting support columns into place, conducting inspections, framing buildings, and welding pipes up to 90 inches in diameter. Trail work is ongoing as well.

 

Construction highlights: 

Reservoir: The majority of the concrete floor in the two 25-million-gallon "cells" that form the reservoir has been poured.  A distinctive feature of the reservoir is the numerous support columns that give the reservoir a "Roman Forum" appearance at this stage of construction. Up to 60 cement trucks a day make the trip up the construction road.  Approximately six million pounds of steel will be used on the project, including the rebar that workers wire into cages used to form the 540 columns that will rise 20 to 35 feet from the reservoir floor and support the roof. Concrete for each column footing is poured at the same time as the floor slabs beneath the column, providing a strong joint. Then, once the floor concrete sets, the column itself is poured. 

 

Interpretive Center:  This building is in the framing stage. Informational displays will be housed behind two large roll-up doors and a natural-area outdoor amphitheater will provide space for educational programs about the park's history, wildlife, habitat and the City's water supply system. This building will also include public restrooms.

 

Caretaker's House: With the framing and roof work largely complete, weatherization and utility work is now underway. Views from the windows look out on several of the park amenities, including the main parking lot, which will be poured with a pervious surface to help manage stormwater runoff.

 

Maintenance Building: Cinderblock walls from this 5000-square-foot-structure are nearly complete. This building will house communications and reservoir data equipment, water-quality testing equipment and a small water pump station to provide onsite water for the Caretaker's House and Interpretive Center. PWB and Portland Parks & Recreation staff, the caretaker and volunteers will use this building, which will resemble a prairie barn once the exterior is completed.

 

Parking lots: Space has been regraded for the three parking lots. One lot will be designated for buses and horse trailers, and the others for passenger vehicles. The lots will be paved once the majority of the heavy construction is complete. 

1,500  Projected number of people put to work as a result of this project as estimated by a federal job-creation calculator.

40  Number of subcontracts during Phase 2.

16  Number of Minority/Women/Emerging Small Business contractors employed during Phase 2.

44  Number of wall sections complete (out of 132 total).

157  Number of floor slabs complete (out of 210).

123  Number of columns completed (out of 540 total, 2-foot diameter by 20-feet to 35-feet tall).

900 feet  Length of 78-inch diameter pipe installed (out of 1,100 feet total).

600 feet  Length of 90-inch diameter pipe installed (out of 1,750 feet total).

333,000 cubic yards  Amount of excavated soil during Phase 1.

33,000  Dump truck trips required to remove soil during Phase 1.

150,000 cubic yards  Amount of excavated soil during Phase 2 of project (reservoir only).

15,000  Dump truck loads of material that stayed onsite and will be reclaimed for use on the project.

27,000 cubic yards  Amount of concrete placed (out of 56,000 CY total).

1.5 million pounds  Weight of steel reinforcing used (out of 6 million pounds total).

Reporter David F. Ashton has been covering the Powell Butte Reservoir 2 project since 2008. In six stories and dozens of vivid photographs published in the East Portland News, David has provided readers with interesting details and updates on the project.

In a story published in the East Portland News in August 2012, David describes the scene on the butte as a "construction ballet" - an apt portrayal of the people and machines in constant motion on the construction site this summer.

Read the East Portland News and David's stories online at http://eastpdxnews.com.