Damn Chicago Road Mafia!!!!!

[jonnyGURU]

When you resurface a road, that road's surface is supposed to last more than a year. Right?

But here in the Northern Suburbs, it seems like they have to work on ALL of the roads ALL of the time. MY commute to work now contains NO ALTERNATE ROUTES that don't put me through construction, and thus heavy traffic.

North out of work, turn left on Rockland Rd.

Nope. Rockland is down to two lanes due to the widining of I-94 (which I agree needs to be done). Cross traffic backed up for over a mile and intersection's blocked. Nobody's getting in.

Ok.. Turn right on Rockland Rd. and go to Waukegan Rd. Turn left and then back track on Atkinson Rd.

Nope. Atkinson Rd is getting resurfaced and is completely shut down to through traffic.

Go up to Buckly Rd instead and head West.

Nope. Rebuilding the bridge over the Des Plaines river. Road down to two lanes, traffic's backed up.

Ok... I'll just turn right on O'Plaine before the construction and head up to Belvidere Rd to go West.

Nope. O'Plaine closed at I-94. One lane and a flagman. 10 minute wait.

Ok... New game plan. Head South out of work and take Townline Rd. West.

Nope. Resurfacing this road too. Down to two lanes. Traffic on this road is already slow enough without construction which is why I never take it in the first place!!

And even if I can just get West of I-94... Milwaukee Avenue is down to two lanes at Winchester because of resurfacing and Rt. 45 is getting widened North of 137, Grand Avenue is getting resurfaced between Hunt Club and I-45, 137 is getting resurfaced between 83 and 120.....

COME ON!!!!

And it's not like they work for a week and then they're done. For some reason, these guys spend MONTHS on these projects. Other places I've lived, they take a couple weeks and that's it. Hell, they completely resurfaced my subdivision (1 square mile) in less than a week! They made a brand new road to come off of Peterson Rd to go into the new Fairgrounds (about 1500 ft of pavement) in under a week. What's going on IDOT?!?!?

 

[nakedfrog]

I know we had a bunch of road construction pop up because of the stimulus.

 

[Platypus]

lol, haven't you figured out that they make the roads last long enough for next season so those same people will get paid to do substandard work over and over?

at least in the burbs you get actual work done, we just get massive metal plates in the city

 

[AstroManLuca]

I guess I'm lucky to be in Minnesota. We have a lot of construction but nothing has lasted that long other than the construction on 35W between Bloomington and Minneapolis (my commute home). Even that isn't too bad.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
I know we had a bunch of road construction pop up because of the stimulus.

Yeah, definitely some like that in IL too, they put the big sign up to let you know.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
I know we had a bunch of road construction pop up because of the stimulus.

Yeah, definitely some like that in IL too, they put the big sign up to let you know.

Yeah. They have been working on the same 4 miles stretch of highway by me (route 47) for the past 3 months now. Fucking stupid

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: Platypus
lol, haven't you figured out that they make the roads last long enough for next season so those same people will get paid to do substandard work over and over?

That's why at work we call them "Chicago Road Mafia". Only make the roads good enough to last until the next season, take forever to do it.... then do them again next season.

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
I know we had a bunch of road construction pop up because of the stimulus.

Hmm.... That could be it. I mean... what other reason could there be to work on EVERY ROAD at the same time? Even roads that really don't need it (Milwaukee Avenue was fine. So was 137 between 83 and 120.)

 

[alevasseur14]

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
I guess I'm lucky to be in Minnesota. We have a lot of construction but nothing has lasted that long other than the construction on 35W between Bloomington and Minneapolis (my commute home). Even that isn't too bad.

I've been driving a borrowed car since my accident in June that took me off my bike and that construction on 35W south is nuts! Traffic flows alright but swerving from one set of lanes to another really weirds me out!

At least here in MN it seems like there's always construction SOMEWHERE but I think they do a pretty good job of not plugging up a given area too bad. I'll tell you one thing though, traffic downtown was AWESOME when the 35W bridge was down. Good time to be on a bike then!

 

[jonnyGURU]

Ok... This is now so insane that it's laughable.

I take Rockland in to work because it typically doesn't get backed up. It tends to only get backed up going Westbound.

This morning, traffic was at a virtual standstill at the I-94 overpass.

Why?

Because at 9AM they decide to demolish the old overpass. They have a flagman standing there letting cars pass in between chunks of concrete and rebar falling from the sky! It's hilarious! Where's the concern for liability? There's big pieces of concrete falling from 30 feet up with inches of people's cars and the only thing that's standing between driving and getting crushed is some dude in an orange jumpsuit????? For God's sake! Do the work at night and close the road off completely! Insanity!!!

 

[MotF Bane]

There is a valid conclusion to this. Quit that job, go back to working from home reviewing power supplies. :beer:

 

[xanis]

You've never lived in Pennsylvania, have you? Welcome to our hell.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

I went through Chicago 3 times over the course of the summer to get between Indiana and Wisconsin, and eventually heading back to Georgia. I vowed to never ever live there. You guys are crazy for getting into crap like that.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU
Ok... This is now so insane that it's laughable.

I take Rockland in to work because it typically doesn't get backed up. It tends to only get backed up going Westbound.

This morning, traffic was at a virtual standstill at the I-94 overpass.

Why?

Because at 9AM they decide to demolish the old overpass. They have a flagman standing there letting cars pass in between chunks of concrete and rebar falling from the sky! It's hilarious! Where's the concern for liability? There's big pieces of concrete falling from 30 feet up with inches of people's cars and the only thing that's standing between driving and getting crushed is some dude in an orange jumpsuit????? For God's sake! Do the work at night and close the road off completely! Insanity!!!

Closing the road sounds easy...but often times they can't completely shut it down.
(legal liability, contractual agreement with the feds, all sorts of stuff. You'd THINK that it could have been planned far enough in advance that they COULD have re-routed traffic via detours, but hey...we're talking about state DOT here. thinking is above their paygrade... Right Oldsmoboat? (He has to deal with the fucking morons above him who tell them to do without taking time to think about what they're doing)

For me, it's funny to hear people bitch about road construction. Yes, it sucks to have the roads torn up...to have detours and delays, but it's better than having the roads fall apart. People REALLY start bitching when their car gets fucked up because they drove into a pothole large enough to hide a bulldozer...and they bitch about "Where's my tax dollars going?" This way, you can SEE where your tax dollars are being spent...and the infrastructure is being repaired.
(Imagine the clusterfuck if they actually fixed everything that NEEDS fixing...)

 

[K1052]

Illinois has two seasons: Winter and road construction.

Some of my Naperville/Aurora living coworkers are heavily lamenting the fact that just as the seemingly decade long reconstruction of the I-88 tollway draws to a close they have now decided to resurface the Eisenhower Expwy thereby preventing any improvement in commute time for at least another year.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Closing the road sounds easy...but often times they can't completely shut it down.
(legal liability, contractual agreement with the feds, all sorts of stuff. You'd THINK that it could have been planned far enough in advance that they COULD have re-routed traffic via detours, but hey...we're talking about state DOT here. thinking is above their paygrade... Right Oldsmoboat? (He has to deal with the fucking morons above him who tell them to do without taking time to think about what they're doing)

They (CDOT and/or IDOT) are usually not too shy about that here....if they want something closed from the smallest side street all the way to the entirety of I90/94 they will if they feel like it.

 

[nitrousninja]

It's just as bad in the western suburbs too. EVERY road is getting resurfaced. It can take an hour and 15 minutes to drive 16 miles some days.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: K1052
Illinois has two seasons: Winter and road construction.

Some of my Naperville/Aurora living coworkers are heavily lamenting the fact that just as the seemingly decade long reconstruction of the I-88 tollway draws to a close they have now decided to resurface the Eisenhower Expwy thereby preventing any improvement in commute time for at least another year.

I considered blowing my fucking brains out last week on I-88. My 30 minute drive at 9pm turned into a 90+ minute drive for no reason. I'm off the 59 exit.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

For me, it's funny to hear people bitch about road construction. Yes, it sucks to have the roads torn up...to have detours and delays, but it's better than having the roads fall apart.

This is different. Of course roads need to be resurfaced, but Illinois is just so fucked up about it.

I lived in Florida for 20 years before moving to Illinois and Florida is much better about it. They'll close roads up at 10PM, prop up huge halogen lights and work until 7AM totally minimizing their impact on traffic. Up here, it's like they only work from 8AM to 5PM. I NEVER see road crews up here working at night. It also seems like a lot of things are just badly planned. Like, if things were done in a certain order or in certain stages, it would create less impact, but they just go ahead and section off miles of road, tear it up and then take forever to repave it. It's just nuts.

 

[h8red]

I don't EVER recalling Chicago not having all the roads ripped up all the time. It is fricking insane.

 

[heymrdj]

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU

Originally posted by: BoomerD

For me, it's funny to hear people bitch about road construction. Yes, it sucks to have the roads torn up...to have detours and delays, but it's better than having the roads fall apart.

This is different. Of course roads need to be resurfaced, but Illinois is just so fucked up about it.

I lived in Florida for 20 years before moving to Illinois and Florida is much better about it. They'll close roads up at 10PM, prop up huge halogen lights and work until 7AM totally minimizing their impact on traffic. Up here, it's like they only work from 8AM to 5PM. I NEVER see road crews up here working at night. It also seems like a lot of things are just badly planned. Like, if things were done in a certain order or in certain stages, it would create less impact, but they just go ahead and section off miles of road, tear it up and then take forever to repave it. It's just nuts.

That's like right here in Americus, GA. They are resurfacing all the major highways from Atlanta, GA to Bainbridge, GA. They never use a flag man except on some old 2 lane side streets. It's always a lane switch, kepeing traffic flowing all the time. Inside towns where the highway runs through, like here in Americus, GA. Construction starts at 10PM, and they work till 6:30AM with huge halogen lights. I've only seen the construction equipment once this whole time when I made a midnight run to wendy's after studying. I love when they actually take working people into consideration when they do construction.

They also only work on one lane to completion, minimizing lane downtime.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: heymrdj

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU

Originally posted by: BoomerD

For me, it's funny to hear people bitch about road construction. Yes, it sucks to have the roads torn up...to have detours and delays, but it's better than having the roads fall apart.

This is different. Of course roads need to be resurfaced, but Illinois is just so fucked up about it.

I lived in Florida for 20 years before moving to Illinois and Florida is much better about it. They'll close roads up at 10PM, prop up huge halogen lights and work until 7AM totally minimizing their impact on traffic. Up here, it's like they only work from 8AM to 5PM. I NEVER see road crews up here working at night. It also seems like a lot of things are just badly planned. Like, if things were done in a certain order or in certain stages, it would create less impact, but they just go ahead and section off miles of road, tear it up and then take forever to repave it. It's just nuts.

That's like right here in Americus, GA. They are resurfacing all the major highways from Atlanta, GA to Bainbridge, GA. They never use a flag man except on some old 2 lane side streets. It's always a lane switch, kepeing traffic flowing all the time. Inside towns where the highway runs through, like here in Americus, GA. Construction starts at 10PM, and they work till 6:30AM with huge halogen lights. I've only seen the construction equipment once this whole time when I made a midnight run to wendy's after studying. I love when they actually take working people into consideration when they do construction.

They also only work on one lane to completion, minimizing lane downtime.

Yep. I lived in Miami during the Palmetto Expressway widening and that was relatively painless. They only did one half of each land at a time and worked primarily at night. I only really saw the workers when I had to come back from the airport after taking a redeye. The expressway was down to one lane, but there'd be only a couple cars other than me so it would be one lane doing 60 MPH.

I was in Tampa during the I-4 wideing. Again, relatively painless. VERY organized and minimal lane closings.

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: K1052
Illinois has two seasons: Winter and road construction.

Some of my Naperville/Aurora living coworkers are heavily lamenting the fact that just as the seemingly decade long reconstruction of the I-88 tollway draws to a close they have now decided to resurface the Eisenhower Expwy thereby preventing any improvement in commute time for at least another year.

And they're not even going to widen it.


Our tax dollars at work :roll:

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: K1052
Illinois has two seasons: Winter and road construction.

Some of my Naperville/Aurora living coworkers are heavily lamenting the fact that just as the seemingly decade long reconstruction of the I-88 tollway draws to a close they have now decided to resurface the Eisenhower Expwy thereby preventing any improvement in commute time for at least another year.

I considered blowing my fucking brains out last week on I-88. My 30 minute drive at 9pm turned into a 90+ minute drive for no reason. I'm off the 59 exit.

I always enjoy the gambling spirit of taking either I-88 or I-55 out to see my brother in Naperville (near 95th and Rte 59). You can never tell which is going to be FUBAR'd

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: Steve

Originally posted by: K1052
Illinois has two seasons: Winter and road construction.

Some of my Naperville/Aurora living coworkers are heavily lamenting the fact that just as the seemingly decade long reconstruction of the I-88 tollway draws to a close they have now decided to resurface the Eisenhower Expwy thereby preventing any improvement in commute time for at least another year.

And they're not even going to widen it.


Our tax dollars at work :roll:

They threaten that once every couple years and it gets shut down by Oak Park pretty much every time. We'll all have flying cars before IDOT gets that one done.

 

[blinblue]

Road construction never ceases to amaze me. I live in the far NW burbs and while it isn't too terrible here, they still do a terrible job managing alternate routes and finishing projects even remotely on time.
There is a T intersection down the road I live on that is completely closed as they resurface it, and it has been closed for months now. It isn't even a big intersection. Now I can understand having to close the road completely for a couple days as you do whatever you need to do. But for the love of God get at least a lane open so people can pass.

I really wish people had the foresight to make roads 2x-3x wider than they currently think is needed. Because even though it will cost substantially more to make such a road, the ability to not waste millions of people's time sitting in traffic (wasted time is wasted money). Then when you do need to do regular road repair, you have much more space to work with. There is NO reason why people should have to be stuck in traffic if there isn't some major catastrophe.

Thankfully the chicago area has some pretty nice public transit. It is a million times nicer for me to take the Metra into the city than trying to drive (cheaper too if there are fewer than 3 passengers in the car)

/rant