Asbestos blamed in project tie-ups
SUDBURY -- Long traffic lines in the mornings and afternoons at the new Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School are likely to continue indefinitely, due to a delay in the demolition of the old building next door.
The demolition, which was supposed to be completed during the summer, has not gone smoothly, as workers have discovered asbestos in many more places than anticipated. The delay has created a domino effect, disrupting several stages of the project.
Teachers and students are having to use a temporary access route to campus. In addition, a side entrance to the new high school that faces the old building remains closed, forcing use of the front door.
"It's all sort of jammed up at the opening to the school in the morning and the afternoon," said John Ritchie, who serves as Lincoln-Sudbury's principal and superintendent.
School typically lets out about 2:40 p.m., but officials are asking students who don't need to leave right away to delay getting picked up until after 3 p.m. because of the traffic congestion.
Also, teachers and students are parking far away from the building, Ritchie said, because the new lot is to be located where the old school is now. And workers have not yet been able to build a tennis court and a softball field that are scheduled for play next spring, because the court and the field are supposed to go where the old parking lot is now.
Nor is there an end in sight to the problems. Jack Ryan, chairman of the building committee and a member of the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional School Committee, said he can't predict when demolition of the old building will be completed.
School officials and contractors always expected to find asbestos in the old building, which was constructed during the 1950s, when asbestos was commonly used to insulate pipes. Long-term exposure to asbestos has been linked to cancer and lung disease.
But workers have found low amounts of asbestos in materials throughout the old building. Ryan said it has been found, for example, in paint used between the interior and exterior walls and in glue dots used as adhesive for tiles.
People who used the old building were not exposed to the asbestos, which therefore posed no health threat, Ryan said.
But in July the state Department of Environmental Protection ordered that asbestos removal at the site be stopped after it found violations of state regulations, said Joe Ferson, a spokesman for the department.
State environmental officials found several problems with how the material was being handled, Ferson said. For example, a subcontractor doing the asbestos removal was keeping the asbestos dry instead of wetting it down, he said, which is done to prevent particles from becoming airborne.
The state has since allowed work to resume, but state officials have visited the site several times, Ferson said, and the matter remains under investigation.
Ferson identified the subcontractor as RM Technologies Inc. of Lawrence. The company could not be reached for comment.
Ryan said the problems with removing asbestos at the old building have not endangered anyone's health.
Asbestos at the site is at the center of a lawsuit in Middlesex Superior Court by a different subcontractor against the general contractor in charge of the job.
On Sept. 10, the subcontractor responsible for demolition, RSG Contracting Corp. of Billerica, filed suit against the general contractor, Eastern Contractors Inc. of Framingham, for terminating its contract.
According to court documents, demolition of the old Lincoln-Sudbury building was supposed to take place between June 29 and Aug. 27 but was delayed because of problems with removing asbestos.
RSG contends that Eastern Contractors did not allow RSG to begin demolition until Aug. 25 and then terminated the contract within 10 days because RSG was cooperating with the Lincoln-Sudbury school district by informing them about continuing asbestos problems at the site, according to court documents.
Last Thursday, Judge Peter Lauriat denied a motion by RSG to prevent Eastern Contractors from terminating its contract with RSG, ruling that RSG hadn't shown substantial risk of irreparable harm or likelihood of success on its claims sufficient to merit an emergency order, according to court documents.
RSG's lawyer, Michael Sims, of the Boston law firm Sherin and Lodgen, declined comment on the lawsuit earlier this week.
But a lawyer representing Eastern Contractors dismissed RSG's claim to whistleblower status, saying Eastern fired the subcontractor because of poor performance.
"RSG was terminated because they were not performing the work in a timely fashion and in accordance with the contract requirements," said Edward Quinlan, a lawyer with the Norwood firm Quinlan & Sadowski.
Dec. 1 is the target date for substantially completing the project.
The estimated project cost is about $71 million, Ryan said. He said the school district's position is that any overruns in cost or time should be covered by the general contractor.
