High School Summer Internship Construction Site Visit: PSAC II & Safe Route to School – M.S. 22

High School interns arrive for a tour of the Public Safety Answering Center II.

On July 6th, 2016, as part of the DDC High School Summer Internship Program, 30 interns traveled to the Bronx to visit active and recently completed DDC construction projects. The interns learned about the background of each project, the details of construction, and the ways in which each project will serve the surrounding communities. The interns were also given career advice and encouragement from experienced professionals in the field and were able to ask many questions about the sites and architecture, construction, and engineering in general. The interns were joined by the Deputy Commissioner of Community Partnerships and STEAM Initiatives Lee Llambelis and the STEAM Initiatives program coordinators.

PSAC II
The first site visit was to PSAC II (Public Safety Answering Center II) in the Bronx, which is a back-up 911 call center in the case of a city emergency like that of 9/11. A joint project between the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, the Fire Department, the Police Department, and the Department of Design and Construction, PSAC II will house NYPD, FDNY and EMS emergency dispatchers. Project Executive Dale Peterson & Jim Butler led the tour, highlighting extra safety measures taken to secure the building and the process of taking a project from conception through delivery. After the tour, Dale took a moment to share career advice, and lessons learned along the project process.

Safe Route to Schools - M.S. 22 Jordan L. Mott Middle School
The Department of Transportation (DOT) introduced the Safe Routes to School Initiative to the interns. This initiative focuses on safety improvements near city schools with high accident rates. DOT examined accident histories around the city's 1,471 elementary and middle schools and established an initial list of 135 priority schools to be considered for traffic safety improvements. This work includes new traffic and pedestrian signals, the addition of exclusive pedestrian crossing time, speed bumps, high visibility crosswalks and new parking regulations. Community Construction Liaison Javier Fleming took the group on a survey tour of the surrounding roadwork around J.S.H. 22, the Jordan L. Mott Middle School. Mr. Fleming also spent time answering questions and addressing some of the many challenges faced when performing construction work in high traffic areas and how it affects the community as a whole.