Episode 82 – Atlanta Watershed Project and Driller Mike

The podcast for project managers by project managers. "Driller Mike", a tunnel boring machine drilling a 5 mile tunnel underneath Atlanta. Table of Contents 01:19 … The Project Story 02:38 … Meet Ade 06:28 … Project Objective 09:44 … CMAR 12:28 … Meet Bob 15:42 … Driller Mike 18:27 … Decision-Making Criteria 20:46 … The Unexpected Risks 23:12 … Encountering Opposition 24:21 … Lessons Learned 25:13 … Current Project Status 27:50 … CMAR Lessons Learned 31:23 … Collaboration Tip 31:46 … Project Success 34:58 … Closing BOB HUIE: So the city kind of told everybody at the beginning we don’t have a lot of time to do this, so we can’t be fighting with each other and not getting along and doing things like that. We needed to find a way to work together for a common goal, and that was a substantial lesson that everybody had to learn.  And then once we learned it and put it into effect, it had a tremendous positive impact on the success of the project to date. NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  This is our chance to meet and discuss the things that really matter to you as a professional project manager.  We take seriously the adage that wisdom is found in a multitude of advisors, and so we seek out experts in a variety of vocations who can give us insight based on their real-life experiences. I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me is the one who guides these conversations, Bill Yates, and Bill, we talk about all sizes and scopes of projects on this podcast, and today we’re talking about another really big one. BILL YATES:  Yeah, this one’s deep, a very deep project, we’ll talk more about that, but I can’t wait. The Project Story NICK WALKER:  Well, let’s talk about this deep project just a little bit.  The City of Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management provides water to 1.2 million users each day.  So the department is in the middle of establishing a 400-foot-deep reservoir that will hold 2.4 billion gallons of water, the reservoir will be in the former Bellwood Quarry northwest of downtown Atlanta.  The Quarry is to be filled through a five-mile-long tunnel that will connect it to the Chattahoochee River, the city’s primary water source.  To bore the tunnel, a tunnel boring machine, or TBM, was constructed and installed for the two-year-long tunnel project, a TBM. (Driller Mike) BILL YATES:  TBM.  NICK WALKER:  And there’s another acronym that we want to talk about. BILL YATES:  Yeah. NICK WALKER:  And you’ll probably hear this come up a lot.  That’s CMAR. BILL YATES:  Right. NICK WALKER:  C-M-A-R. BILL YATES:  So CMAR, that’s a – really it’s a procurement term, it’s a contract type, and it stands for Construction Manager at-Risk.  Once the agreement was reached between the City of Atlanta and that major provider – Bob will talk about that.  So you may hear the owner, City of Atlanta, refer to the project manager of the team as the CMAR.  So you met your CMAR that way. Meet Ade NICK WALKER:  Good.  Well, we’ve got a couple of guests in the studio here.  So let me first introduce Ade Abon, Senior Watershed Director for the City of Atlanta, Department of Watershed Management, he is the director for the Capital Projects Management Division. Ade has 34 years of experience, 19 of which have been for the City of Atlanta in the planning, design, construction management, and also program management for wastewater collection and water distribution systems, Ade, welcome to Manage This. ADE ABON:  Thank you very much. NICK WALKER:  I’d like to start off by just maybe finding out a little bit more about you.  What was your career path to the position that you’re now in? ADE ABON:  Yeah, so I’ve got a very long career path, and I will try and do my best to lay it all out.  Yeah, I – born, raised in Nigeria.  I worked for a couple of years on a road construction project. NICK WALKER:  In Nigeria.