No 'Traffic Nightmare' Expected At York High: City

ELMHURST, IL — Elmhurst officials do not expect traffic problems when York High School reopens next week, despite an ongoing drainage project, the city's spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Earlier in the summer, the city's engineer warned a previous contractor that delays would mean a "traffic nightmare" at York.

But city spokeswoman Kassondra Schref said city and Elmhurst School District 205 officials have been in "constant communication" throughout the project construction to avoid such issues.

"Recently, both parties met with the contractor and discussed logistics to avoid any delay to normal York High School traffic," Schref said in an email to Patch. "The term 'traffic nightmare' was used by our City Engineer to warn the previous supplier on the consequences of their potential production delays. With the City's switch to a different supplier of the pre-cast concrete vault, the current construction schedule is not expected to create traffic issues."

In an email in June to the previous contractor, Kent Johnson, the city's staff engineer, spoke about the "traffic nightmare" and cautioned that the company's reputation in Illinois was at stake with the closely watched project.

Explaining the delays, the company, Oldcastle Infrastructure, cited labor and materials shortages.

In an agreement with Elmhurst School District 205, the city is installing underground storage tanks to help with stormwater problems in the area. After that, the district is set to put in an artificial turf field.

A month ago, an Elmhurst School District 205 district official said the original contractor was unable to provide the components to fulfill its contract. So the city canceled the contract and found a new contractor, StormTrap.

Through a public records request, Patch obtained the communications between the city and Oldcastle and a related contractor, EarthWerks.

In a June 14 email to Oldcastle, Johnson said the city chose Oldcastle over StormTrap after careful deliberation because Oldcastle's product has structural advantages and brought cost savings. The decision, he said, wasn't made lightly because StormTrap had a proven record with the city, delivering a good product and keeping its promises.

"The city has extremely tight timelines on this project as we only have 10 weeks to complete this project during the York High School summer recess," Johnson said in the email. "If the City goes beyond our allotted time frame with construction, we not only are going to cause a traffic nightmare for the high school, but the City will be forced to pay thousands of dollars a day to the School District per an agreement we have with them."

The city, he said, is putting a lot of pressure on EarthWerks on the job and "therefore you are probably feeling the pressure as well."

In addition, Johnson said, the engineering and municipal community in the Chicago area are watching the project closely, wondering how Oldcastle will perform. He said he has received many calls from that community, which wants to examine Oldcastle's capabilities. He said he believed the Elmhurst job is its largest one in the Chicago area.

"Anyways, I am imploring you to ramp up the production and work with EarthWerks on ideas this week to get some pieces on site and the installation started ASAP to avoid costly delays for the City and to keep a good reputation," Johnson said.

In a response a short while later, Greg DiCrosta, Oldcastle's commercial sales director, said he appreciated Johnson's "thoughtful" communication. He said he had contacted EarthWerks to discuss a few options for quickening the project.

In an earlier email to EarthWerks, DiCrosta said his company was trying to get several new employees up to speed on the process and procedures at its Elgin plant. As soon as they get acclimated, he said, Oldcastle can move to a six-day schedule, increasing overall capacity.

"I understand that there's a level of anxiety about the job as it is quite large and you're ready to start the install," DiCrosta said.

He said it was challenging to recruit labor to meet demand in the "recovery" economy and keep up with the current backlog. He also said the company had a level of risk with its ability to retain its current workforce.

"Needless to say, the Elmhurst project is incredibly important to me, the local production team and Oldcastle Infrastructure's entire leadership team," DiCrosta said in the email. "At this point, we have several folks in leadership positions working on loosening our capacity restraints, and we will not let you down on this job."

Another company executive, Charles Bozduman, emailed EarthWerks about shortages of cement, steel and skilled labor. Those are the three main factors for precast components, he said.

The final precast components, he said, would not be delivered until Sept. 6, nearly three weeks after the first day of school.

On June 22, city communications indicated the city was fine with terminating its Oldcastle contract. Officials said they expected to receive components from StormTrap within a couple of weeks. The last pieces are expected to arrive Sept. 3.

At the mid-July school board meeting, members were told the school was preparing to have the contractor stop work during times of peak traffic. Some sports practices will have to be moved.

Patch left a message with Johnson on Tuesday on the status of the project.