As it gets warmer I'm starting to see those dreaded orange barrels and cones all over the place. It's summer road construction time baby!
First let me say...it is what it is. Roads need maintenance, I understand that. But I have a question (gripe) about the way they go about it. I have no first-hand knowledge of how it's all organized, but best I can tell from my personal observations the first meeting of those involved goes something like this:
"It's almost summertime boys, this is our plan of attack. First we're gonna take every single last road project on the schedule for the entire summer and block them ALL off in one shot with our beloved orange barrels and cones. We should be able to do this in, oh, a couple hours. We can't have cars driving willy-nilly over our work areas just anytime they want.
Then, over the course of the next several months, just get to what you can whenever it's convenient for you. I realize our numbers are small, but hey, we have lives. Ideally we'd like to actually finish these projects before winter...but whatever.
Okay, let's get to it. After lunch I mean. Break!"
Here's my proposal for a new way to do it, and I take a page out of the book of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. They can build an entire house in 7 days. How do they do it? Simple. Lots and lots of man hours in one location.
Would it be so infeasible for them to go around the city doing one project at a time, utilizing every hombre on the payroll, go non-stop until it is finished...and then move on to the next? To me this seems like win-win. Projects are done faster, and at any given time only one piece of the road is blocked off. Can someone please tell me what the matter with this plan is? Thanks!
The problem with your plan is that it is way too efficient. I mean this is the government we are talking about.
ReplyDeleteactually, a lot of the road projects are handled by different entities--cities take care of city roads, counties hit county roads, and udot does state and interstate work--so there are always a number of projects going on at once. also, you don't see the people working a lot of the time because they work a lot at night, when traffic is lower and it's not quite so damned hot.
ReplyDeleteit's still annoying, but that's how it is. and i'm sure if they could afford to hire that many people at once, they'd do it.
i'm not "ask michelle" for nothing...
(and watch what you say about government employees).
I drove home from SLC last night. They had the lovely orange barrels limit you down to one lane on I-15. Fifteen miles and not a single piece of equipment in sight. Believe me, 15 miles at 15 MPH I had plenty of time to look for road construction equipment, but none were to be found. I guess I need to buy stock in the orange barrel making company.
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