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This past spring and summer, finding a dry day was about as hard as picking the winning lottery ticket. So it seemed at least to the construction crews working on the new Shooting Range on the August A. Memorial Conservation Area. As you might imagine, frequent rains and wet ground made progress difficult during the early season. It's mighty hard to move big machines in mud! Thankfully things have since dried out as we returned to more normal weather in late summer, and crews were able to rally.
Despite being a bit behind thanks to the weather, there's still a lot of progress. As of the end of August the Contractor for Phase I, the site prep phase, is following his latest approved schedule. We currently anticipate finishing Phase I this December. We are working on finalizing the site preparation work and taking soil samples for our recycling and soil treatment efforts. These will be used to monitor the success of our lead reclamation.
Rough grading for the range complex and the installation of the entrance road base is under way. Utilities are also being installed. Once we have received samples indicating our site preparations are complete the contractor will begin construction of the storm drainage system for the new shotgun facility.
Looking ahead to Phase II, contract bids were received and approved by the Conservation Commission in mid-August. This is the construction phase for the new range. The bid was awarded to Demien Construction, the same contractor for Phase I. The Phase II contract includes the two alternate bid items that will allow for concrete pavement of the entrance road and parking areas, which were the two most common requests we received from our public feedback.
The Phase II contract allows 460 calendar days for completion. If weather permits, construction of the new range should begin the first part of January of next year.
Keep on eye this blog for more updates. And don't forget to check out the construction site webcams at mdc.mo.gov/node/30020 to monitor the progress for yourself!
