6
alternate borrow pit. The Corps also advised PR that about 18 percent of the contract time
had passed without any work being performed at the site. (R4, tab C-6; tr. 66-70, 179-80)
18. On 24 July 1997, the Corps again asked PR for its alternate borrow submittal,
reiterating that no time extensions would be granted for delays in obtaining an alternate
borrow pit. The Corps also advised PR that about one-third of the contract time had passed
without any work being performed at the site. (R4, tab C-7; tr. 70-71, 180-81)
19. On 8 September 1997, the Corps approved PR’s alternate borrow submittal.
The Corps also stated that 47 percent of the contract time had passed without any work at
the site and urged PR to begin work “without any further delays” (R4, tab C-8).
20. PR’s first earthwork subcontractor mobilized at the site on 17 September
1997, 125 days after the NTP was acknowledged (ex. Bd.-1 at Report No. 1; tr. 186).
21. PR submitted its access plan on 18 September 1997. The plan stated that PR
intended to proceed by “using the indicated whole access road in the attached sketches and
then on top of the levee[,] backing up, dumping and driving back to the same whole road.”
On the sketches, PR highlighted LA Hwy. 23 and the two haul access roads in green and the
two light access roads in pink. The legend stated that green denoted a “2 way haul access
road” and pink denoted a “2 way light access road.” (Ex. A-2; tr. 208) In view of the
legend, it appears that, in typing the plan, the word “whole” was mistakenly typed for the
word “haul” and we so find. The plan did not indicate which haul access road PR planned to
use or that it intended to have empty trucks exit using the light access road at the marina.
With one exception not relevant here, the Corps approved the plan on 19 September 1997
(ex. A-1).
22. In order to make the upper haul access road usable, PR had to strip the levee
from the north end, build a stone pad to protect the highways and construct ramps over the
levee to allow the trucks to use the upper haul access road. Although PR suggested at the
hearing that another contractor may have built a stone pad on the upper haul access road
during a prior project, it did not present any evidence that there was an existing stone pad on
the upper haul access road (tr. 296-98, 311-13). We conclude that PR did not build a stone
pad on the upper haul access road. The unrebutted testimony of Mr. John G. Fogarty, Jr.,
the Corps’ project engineer, establishes that PR did not build access ramps over the north
end of the levee until April 1998 (tr. 174-75, 296-98, 301, 313-14). We conclude that the
upper haul access road was not usable until at least April 1998.
23. Due to the physical limits of the levee and the fact that the protected side could
not be used for hauling, there were only two ways to perform the work. PR could have built
the levee cap and left the flood side berm open, which would have allowed access to the
upper haul access road for a short time. Once PR began building the berm, however, access
to the upper haul access road would have been blocked. (Tr. 188-89, 190-91) This method