LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Many Michiganders have concerns regarding the roads throughout the state, and a recent audit released Wednesday reveals that these concerns are not unwarranted.
The report indicates that the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has not been able to show proof of quality inspection for all of their projects’ aggregate suppliers and quality as mandated by law, for the use of the building and repairing of roads which calls into question the materials integrity.
One of the chief concerns in the audit was the frequency in which MDOT has been testing and collecting test samples of aggregate – a substance composed of mineral crystals or mineral rock fragments used in pavement – from suppliers. A supplier can become prequalified to reduce the required frequency of quality assurance testing, but must submit weekly shipping summaries to MDOT regional offices and the Aggregate Quality Unit (AQU) within the Construction Field Services (CFS) division. Instead, the audits review of a sample of suppliers revealed nearly half of prequalified suppliers failed to meet the reporting standard.
“Our review of 40 suppliers from MDOT’s list of prequalified suppliers between October 1, 2018 and June 30, 2021 disclosed MDOT did not retain weekly summaries of aggregate material shipped for 18 (45%) of the 40 suppliers,” the report said.
MDOT has responded to the audit’s recommendation of creating a method to track current prequalified suppliers and therefore keep up with weekly reports, after an initial response that a number of the reviewed suppliers were no longer current. The agency has already started building a database “for managing construction work completed by contractors,” which will also include “a module for aggregate quality assurance (QA) testing, which will provide a single unified repository for all testing-related information.” The database, AASHTOWare Project Construction and Materials (APCM), is expected to be complete by May 1, 2023.
Another concern of the report is that MDOT did not “always ensure its staff or local agencies performed required testing for non-prequalified aggregate sources.” Additionally, the agency was supposed to perform a Los Angeles Abrasion test a minimum of every five years to evaluate the aggregates resistance to abrasion, but failed to do so for nearly 20% of the 50 projects between October 2018 and June 2021.
MDOT spokesman Jeff Cranson responded to the audit stating that it is “about processes, many of which were already improved,” the Detroit Free press reported. Visual inspections are also important and were always performed, and “MDOT is confident that the aggregate used in construction meets MDOT’s specifications,” he said.
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The audit finding was that MDOT failed to annually ensure all technicians who sample and test aggregate materials passed an annual Independent Assurance Test (IAT) meant to evaluate the technician’s sampling and testing procedures as well as their equipment.
“A risk exists that testing methodologies, equipment, and material used in MDOT projects are not consistent and reliable for use in quality assurance testing,” the report said, “This may cause aggregate used in MDOT projects to be outside of the specification requirements.”
Given the period of testing, the report found MDOT’s actions could have “potential negative impact on the quality of construction projects.” It also states that the agency is responsible for the 9,649 miles of Michigan’s State highway system.
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