First Street Tunnel

Forum Meeting
Thursday June 27, 2014
7:00 pm 9:00 pm
St. Georges Episcopal Church
ATTENDEES:
COMMUNITY MEMBERS
Neal Herman
Monica Atkins
Pam Steptoe
Barbara Declerk
Patricia Hampton
Sherria Smith
Barbara Currie
Rev. Kent Marcoux
Victoria Leonard
Dalton Moore
Ileanna Navarro
Victor Macedo
Theodore Bush
Christian Von Ferro
Marco Palmieri
Angela Ray
Joe Levesque
Kevin Lee
Alicia Hunt
Betsy McDaniel
Rayburn Pereira
Donald Gatlin
Karen May
AR Cotley
Pia Brown
Serita Sanders
Emily Palmieri
Bethany Bezak
Teri Janine Quinn
Mark Mueller
Sherry Howard
Marilyn Lashley
Gregory Gill
Amelia Lofton
DC CLEAN RIVERS PROJECT SKANSKA-JAY DEE JV
Ron Davis Scott Hoffman
Tom Lindberg Thomas March
John Kennedy Sharon Robinson Goods
Stephen Njoloma Terry Lee
Kevin Pilong Kailasa Aqeel
Janice Jessup Cornelius Johnson
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
Tom Lindberg welcomed everyone and reminded them that a primary goal of this meeting was
to resume the traditional First Street Tunnel Forum meeting format and continue to move
forward. He invited attendees to introduce themselves.
Construction Six-Week Look Ahead
Thomas March gave an update on the next six weeks of construction activities:
o Utility trench excavation has been completed along the following streets:
Bryant and Adams Streets
Adam and W Streets
o Utility trench excavation will continue and is scheduled for the following locations and
dates:
Week of June 30 W and V Streets
Week of July 21 V and U Streets
Week of August 4 U and Thomas Streets

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Mt Bethel Church parking lot/Thomas Street will be used for materials storage
the week of 6/30)
o The schedule for upcoming construction staging area construction is:
Week of June 30 First Street and V Street
Week of July 28 Adams street and Flagler Place
Week of August 4 First Street and Thomas Street
o The schedule of the opening of the Alternate Parking Areas (APA)is:
143 W Street and Bryant Street APAs are open and operational
Week of August 4 W Street NW
COMMUNITY MITIGATION
Thomas March and Sharon Robinson Goods addressed additional construction-related issues,
which will impact the community for the next several weeks including:
o Street Closures
Week of June 30 Bryant Street between First and Second
t
Streets will
continue to be restricted to eastbound traffic
Week of June 30 the west alley of First Street between Bryant and Adams
Streets to be closed 7 am - 7 pm
The northbound lane of First Street between Bryant and Channing Streets will
continue to be closed to northbound traffic through July 14
o APA Registration
Sharon Robinson Goods provided an update on the APA registration and
announced extended dates for registering. Attendees were also invited to
register onsite at the Tunnel Forum meeting. Office hours for APA registration
will be held at the Site Office:
Friday June 27 (6:00 pm 8:00 pm)
Saturday June 28 (10:00 am 12:00 pm)
Tuesday July 1 (6:00 pm 8:00 pm)
Wednesday July 2 (6:00 pm 8:00 pm)
APA registration will conclude on Saturday July 26
o APA Security
Sharon Robinson Goods provided a detailed overview of the security measures
and protocols at each APA location including:
Security personnel are trained in First Aid, CPR, and AED units
There will be 24/4 video surveillance
There will be 24/7 live security monitoring
There is a Security Emergency Response Plan

o Shuttle Service
Sharon Robinson Goods provided an update on the implementation of the 24/7
Shuttle service:
Shuttle service will be operational the week of 7/7
Residents can call FST Hotline 1 (844) FST-INFO to learn the schedule or to
arrange pickup

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Peak hours are 7 9 am and 4 7 pm and the Shuttle will circulate
around the neighborhood. There will not be dispatching service during
peak hours.
Drivers will require passengers to show a Shuttle Pass to ride the shuttle
o Garbage Collection Plan
Thomas discussed the status of garbage collection and indicated that garbage will
continue to be collected Wednesday morning as usual. Special arrangements are
being made for neighbors who are landlocked on First Street and others who
are :
Garbage collection for most of Bloomingdale is unchanged
The Wednesday morning garbage and recycle collection schedule will
continue
DPW will designate west First Street alley as its first collection stop for 8
am on Wednesdays.
Residents need to address label receptacles with their house number and
post the number on their backyards to ensure proper receptacle return.
o Instrumentation and Monitoring
Thomas March indicated that the plan for monitoring homes for structural issues
are:
The Pre-construction Survey Program which ends on 6/30/14.
Selected home owners with completed preconstruction surveys will be
contacted for voluntary participation in a settlement monitoring program.
o Formal Claims and Permitting Process
John Kennedy addressed one of the predominant issues raised at the May 29,
2014 Tunnel Forum meeting, which is the Damage Claims Process:
A flow chart illustrating the damage claim process and the issues that will
trigger contacting the insurance company will be distributed to the
community shortly.
Two areas of concern, which underwriters will evaluate, will be obvious
versus perceived damage.
PUBLIC DISCUSSION AND CONCERNS
Resident: Is there a water main issue at First Street and Flagler Place?
DCCR: There are no water main issues. We are changing a section of the 30 main on Adams
Street and updating its construction materiel as a preventative measure to protect our freeze
system technology.
Resident: During the day, my entire house vibrates during certain drilling or hammering
activities, what is the damage being done to my house?
DCCR: FST is doing usual and customary underground construction work and has taken every
precaution to protect the structural integrity of homes in the area. The construction plan allows
for an amount of vibration, which is in the locally allowable limits and this should have no
structural impact on houses. Structures are being monitored for settlement to ensure that
there are no houses that are being impacted with dangerous levels of vibrations.
Resident: Once trench construction starts between V and W Streets, how will seniors who need
to drive in the middle of the day be able to access alleyways?

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DCCR: All residents will be able to enter and exit alleyways, to their rear parking, during trench
construction with no restrictions. We will simply put down steel plates when residents need to
enter the alley.
Resident: Has DCCR reached out to and followed up with all Special Needs residents in the
community?
DCCR: The FST Outreach Team conducted doo- to-door canvassing to identify all special needs
residents in the impacted construction zones. Those identified will receive APA and Care Giver
parking tags and shuttle passes. Some have already been distributed. DCCR will continue
working to identify and communicate with special need residents until all are serviced.
Resident: We need a report on what is being done for special needs neighbors.
DCCR: Neighbors completed Special Needs Surveys in confidence and we are not at liberty to
share details of what is being arranged for any particular neighbor. However, we are working
with Metro Access and have gone door-to-door to identify special needs neighbors and to
customize a plan for each of them.
Resident: Where will the Jersey Barriers be located on Flagler Place and will the trees and
tree boxes still need to be removed?
DCCR: The barriers will be located at the fence line along the edge of houses and the tree boxes
will still need to be removed.
Resident: Will there be gaps between the Jersey Barriers and house retaining walls?
DCCR: There will be adequate space between barriers and house retaining walls.
Resident: What is the status on the suspension of weekly street sweeping?
DCCR: Street sweeping is the purview of DPW. However, we are reviewing the feasible of
suspension of street-sweeping issue. Quite candidly, some neighbors do not want it suspended
and other do.
Resident: What are residents supposed to do if one side of street is closed due to construction
and the other is closed that day for street sweeping?
DCCR: Impacted residents can utilize the APA parking spaces on that day.
Resident: What is the plan for fire hydrants on streets during construction?
DCCR: There are no fire hydrants being impacted by the construction at this time. If we had to
move a fire hydrant, we would replace it.
Resident: If First and V streets are closed, could it open to local traffic only?
DCCR: Once the street is closed, it will be closed to all traffic.
CONCLUSION:
Commissioner Teri Janine Quinn requested that the attending residents share information from
the meeting with their neighbors and help us get the word out about special needs and other
information from the Forum.
Tom Lindberg urged residents to contact city officials to encourage other DC agencies to work
cooperatively with DC Water/DCCR regarding permitting process and coordination of projects.
Residents with unanswered questions were invited to remain and see the DCCR and SKJD staff
individually.
The next Tunnel Forum meeting will be held July 31 at St. Georges Episcopal Church, 7:00 pm to
9:00 pm.