One of the most irritating things about transportation construction is trying to get all the contractors to coordinate their activates with other contractors. Sometimes it works, and other times, well, as you can see, sometimes it doesn’t work worth a damn. The un-named local government wanted to widen a road. They wanted the utilities to be moved, and then the new road would be paved. The paving contractor showed up, on time for once, and paved. Alas!
The utility who owned the pole didn’t call anyone to report they hadn’t begun. The paving crew had their orders, and the company they work for wasn’t interested in moving back onto the project after spending a lot of gas money to get there.
Thanks Mike
That is nothing, here in our area we have entire new two lane roads with the utility poles right down the center of one lane. It may take 12-18 months for the poles to be removed.
Poor workmanship is what I’d call it. But hey, what can you do. It’s what happens when no one talks to one another.
Downsizing, Rightsizing, and Contracting Out. Some people don’t like the trades or unions but there is much to be said about their knowledge and expertise. Don’t hate the worker, hate the damn company that they are working for that is only worried about their stockholders.
A chainsaw will get them to come out asap.
1: The pole is a temporary measure to keep a telephone cable above the tops of vehicles while it is not yet tensioned. 2: There are TWO paving companies at work here. The sidewalk and curbs were done at least several days before the asphalt crew came in, and notice how both sets of workers took meticulous care with the cutout surrounding the pole. Note also the yellow paint that denotes the location of the pole but does not extend onto the cement. Paint BEFORE cement. This entire arrangement is planned as seen.
3: Once the cable has been tensioned, and the larger pole you see in the background has been anchored to the left to correct a tension overload you see as a lean to the right, it would take a matter of minutes for a crew to pull up the temporary pole and be gone, followed shortly by two guys in a pickup with one cubic yard of sand and two five gallon buckets of asphalt who spend about two hours patching that one square foot hole that has finally completed the task it was DESIGNED for.
SO: Old Guy. I have trouble envisioning the scenario you describe. I withhold judgment. I will say that paving around obstacles is difficult and more expensive than removing them and not likely done without orders from somewhere.
Maatlockk. If this is poor workmanship in your book, I pray we all live to see what you call “excellent.”
And finally, Bella. Work of this kind is typically subcontracted by the city to the lowest bidder and paid for from funds generated by municipal taxation. The “damn company” they work for is the the local municipality, and the “stockholder” is the taxpayer.
How would each of you improve on this solution?
1: The pole is a temporary measure to keep a telephone cable above the tops of vehicles while it is not yet tensioned.
No, it isn’t. It’s left over from the old road. I mentioned that.
2: There are TWO paving companies at work here.
No there isn’t. Just one.
This entire arrangement is planned as seen.
No, it isn’t.
followed shortly by two guys in a pickup with one cubic yard of sand and two five gallon buckets of asphalt who spend about two hours patching that one square foot hole that has finally completed the task it was DESIGNED for.
They patched it with concrete. I have photos of that, too.
It was a screw up of the highest order that left a road cloased for a day.
Thanks for the theories, though.
I will say that paving around obstacles is difficult and more expensive than removing them and not likely done without orders from somewhere.
Welcome to my world.
Actually, you’ve shown pretty goofd thought process but the reality of the situation is there are times things just go to hell on us and this is what we get.
Take Care,
Mike
well said bella
So simple: total lack of project management!
Probably an officer somewhere in his cubicle has decided that it’s too small of a job to set up a lite project and run the whole thing properly.
A professional Project Manager would have been on top of this and the pole would have been the first item on the task list…
Sub-contracted, Sub-standard. An accident waiting to happen for an unknowing motorist and not acceptable. You’re right Michael and Thank You WhatTheL.
Tell me how to pass along the pictures to you, I have an album on flicker called goofy road. 17 photos of the widening of a Provincial highway from two lanes to four. The poles were in the road for 18 months. Can’t count the times they dug up a portion of the “finished” road. It seemed as if the day after the painters would lay down fresh paint (crosswalks, stop lines, center lines, caution lines) the crew would come by and dig it up again.
Old Guy, send them to Jon via email.
If you want to send pictures to me, you can just send a link to them if they’re already online.
Jonco
Here is a perma link to the post I made.
http://dustyshop.typepad.com/the_dusty_shop/2006/10/pppp.html
The photo album is http://dustyshop.typepad.com/photos/goofy_road/index.html