What's the most inconvenienced you've been from road construction?(warning: b!tch&moan rant)

[vi edit]

I'm going on month 3 of 9 road construction on the road that I have to use to get out of town, and to work. If I take a left on the road that is being redone, my drive to work is 17 miles, one way. If I take a right, my drive to work is 23 miles one way. There are only two exits to the road, to the north, or to the south. North is left, south is right. I can only go right.

For the next 3 months, I'm going to be forced to drive 12 miles out of my way to get to work. I've been forced to drive through muddy corn fields for exits out of my sub division. I've had roughly 15 hours of power outages spread across at least 10 different days for them to move lines. I can't open my windows because of the dirt, dust, and soot from the concrete cutters. I've got trucks rumbling from 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM outside my windows.

This weekend I lost a tire from a 2x4 with nails stuck in it from a construction crew that didn't clean up after themselves. I've also got 3" of mud that I have to drive through every time it rains.

I'm just sick of it. And I've got three more months of this crap to put up with. 🙁

 

[rahvin]

So tell them not to build the road. It's just to much of an inconvience to fix it and in 10 years when it's gravel and you have to drive 10mph because of the potholes you can thank your own short sideness and lack of patience. 😛

BTW on the tire you should file a claim against the contractor to pay for it. Contact the agency responsible for the road (ie the state DOT or county) and tell them it was in the construction zone.

 

[cjchaps]

Actually, if there isn't too much traffic, that sounds like a fun drive to me. I get to drive me AWD Subaru around on nice cemet all the time, and hardly ever get to go off-roading. I think I would be living it up if I were you(maybe I would buy a set of runflats as well).

 

[vi edit]

BTW on the tire you should file a claim against the contractor to pay for it. Contact the agency responsible for the road (ie the state DOT or county) and tell them it was in the construction zone.

I stopped in at the city administrations office and filed a claim. If they don't get back to me by tomorrow with the contractors name and a number for them, I'm stopping in again and not leaving till I have it in my possesion.

The whole thing about this construction is that the could have organized it so much better than what they did. I live on the east edge of town, and the main highway that splits the town in half runs parallel to the construction zone 2 miles to the west. In about two years they plan to open up a road that will allow you drive between the two roads without having to go 4 or 5 miles out of you way like you have to do now. The access to this road would be about 300 yards from my house. It would be used by the 40+ houses in my subdivision, as well as the other 20 houses on the other side of the road, and a couple houses here and there north and south of where I live. If they had put in this little 2 mile stretch of road, it would had made things SO much easier for 100+ of us that would use it multiple times a day.

Instead, they are going to put it in after the fact, and make things a bitch for us for 9 months.

 

[cavemanmoron]

The street i live on is having water,sewer,and natural gas pipes replaced,the sidewalks are torn up,
i had no water for 32 hours once,and no water for 11 hours another time..🙁
Glad i had bought a brand new 6 gallon "fuel" can and filled it with water,i was able to wash hands and flush the toilet!😉
We have had the power turned off a few times,the longest was about 6 hours,except the day the dump truck tore my power,phone,and;:|Roadrunner lines off Onl;y my house!
I also open the windows at peril of a dirt dust storm,and so i am using the A/C in my room much more than normal,which costs more $$ waaaaaaaah
My house keeps shaking when a Bus,or truck drives by,and the potholes are continuous!,as the street is only being "cold" patch till finish;which is by the contract supposed to be 11/15/2002

 

[Synoptic]

In houston there is always construction on the freeways. They have these big, expensive signs that tell you where there are accidents, construction, etc... Well, I am driving across town one night after visiting my girlfriend. I am on 610 (a loop around the city) and one of the big signs says that the exit from 610 to I-45 north is closed. No big deal cause I am going farther down to I-10. Well I get to the area and they have actually closed all of 610 west bound (the road I was on) and diverted us onto I-45 S, now I have no idea where I am, feeders in that area are weird cause you are getting close to downtown, and I am pissed (which doesn't help the situation). I wasn't as mad that they closed part of the freeway cause I'm sure it was for safety reasons, but if the city is going to spend tons of money on these signs, then they should give us ALL of the information, or at least the most important parts. I think half of a freeway being closed is more important than a single exit. I have also had problems with nails, etc...

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

BTW on the tire you should file a claim against the contractor to pay for it. Contact the agency responsible for the road (ie the state DOT or county) and tell them it was in the construction zone.

I stopped in at the city administrations office and filed a claim. If they don't get back to me by tomorrow with the contractors name and a number for them, I'm stopping in again and not leaving till I have it in my possesion.

The whole thing about this construction is that the could have organized it so much better than what they did. I live on the east edge of town, and the main highway that splits the town in half runs parallel to the construction zone 2 miles to the west. In about two years they plan to open up a road that will allow you drive between the two roads without having to go 4 or 5 miles out of you way like you have to do now. The access to this road would be about 300 yards from my house. It would be used by the 40+ houses in my subdivision, as well as the other 20 houses on the other side of the road, and a couple houses here and there north and south of where I live. If they had put in this little 2 mile stretch of road, it would had made things SO much easier for 100+ of us that would use it multiple times a day.

Instead, they are going to put it in after the fact, and make things a bitch for us for 9 months.

2 miles of road assuming 2 lanes is a ~4 million dollar project. If you would have been willing to pay for it I'm sure they would have put it in. You know the agency responsible did an environmental document and solicited public opinion right? So where were you when they were planning it?

On the contractor, just remember they can deny it was them. They could say it fell off a truck in traffic. You have less than a 50% chance of winning a claim against them so don't get your hopes up to high.

 

[vi edit]

2 miles of road assuming 2 lanes is a ~4 million dollar project. If you would have been willing to pay for it I'm sure they would have put it in. You know the agency responsible did an environmental document and solicited public opinion right? So where were you when they were planning it?

On the contractor, just remember they can deny it was them. They could say it fell off a truck in traffic. You have less than a 50% chance of winning a claim against them so don't get your hopes up to high.

The only real notice any of us got was a flier in our doors saying "come to meeting at such and such a date". We went, they had all the plans drawn up, said that it was going to suck for 9 months, and asked if we had any questions. That was it. They then proceded to tell people that actually had driveways on the road that they needed to cough up anywhere from $1500 to $3500 to have the city tear up their driveways and put them back in.

As for the board - a worker for the city stopped and helped my fiance move it out of the way and place it along with the other 20+ boards that were sitting along the side of the road from a form for a freshly poured subdivision access street. He wasn't too happy about them leaving it out as well.

 

[vi edit]

I went back and looked over the distance between the parallel roads - actually is about 1/2 of a mile. Not two miles.

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

2 miles of road assuming 2 lanes is a ~4 million dollar project. If you would have been willing to pay for it I'm sure they would have put it in. You know the agency responsible did an environmental document and solicited public opinion right? So where were you when they were planning it?

On the contractor, just remember they can deny it was them. They could say it fell off a truck in traffic. You have less than a 50% chance of winning a claim against them so don't get your hopes up to high.

The only real notice any of us got was a flier in our doors saying "come to meeting at such and such a date". We went, they had all the plans drawn up, said that it was going to suck for 9 months, and asked if we had any questions. That was it. They then proceded to tell people that actually had driveways on the road that they needed to cough up anywhere from $1500 to $3500 to have the city tear up their driveways and put them back in.

As for the board - a worker for the city stopped and helped my fiance move it out of the way and place it along with the other 20+ boards that were sitting along the side of the road from a form for a freshly poured subdivision access street. He wasn't too happy about them leaving it out as well.

Did you have the oportunity to comment, either in writing or by court recorder? Were you given notice that you had an opportunity to comment on the EA document?

As for the driveways, those involved could have told the city to take a flying leap, if they access and disturb your property they have to restore it to equivalent value. Now keep in mind, they were probably offering to replace the whole driveway and not just what was being disturbed and the owner would have to pay for that.

Sounds like you have a good case for the board, but I'm warning you with personal experience. They will try to weasel out of it and you might not be able to fight them without going to court.

 

[vi edit]

Nope, those prices were for a backhoe to come in, dig up your driveway from the sidewalk to the street, leave it that way for the duration of the project, and then only repair from the street back up to the sidewalk. The prices they came up with were a percentage of your properties value. The more valuable the property, the more you paid.

If it matters, my town only has a population of 4500 people.

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
Nope, those prices were for a backhoe to come in, dig up your driveway from the sidewalk to the street, leave it that way for the duration of the project, and then only repair from the street back up to the sidewalk. The prices they came up with were a percentage of your properties value. The more valuable the property, the more you paid.

If it matters, my town only has a population of 4500 people.

FWIW they could have refused and if the city tried to play hardball they could have sued. The city can't remove access to properties like that, it's a revocation of property rights and is a valid claim that they have damaged you and the value of your property. The city would have lost in any state court in the nation. It's a blatent violation of property rights to do something like that.

 

[vi edit]

Hmmm...Interesting. Thanks for the info rahvin.

To put things into perspective, I really didn't get sh!t on as bad as other people. I don't have the city saying I have to pay them $XXXX to have my drive torn up. There are also some unfortunate people that in addition to having their drives torn up, they also have to walk 1/8 of a mile from their house to the next stretch of open road where they can park. Their driveways are torn up, and they have to park their cars on another street and walk back to their houses on torn up sidewalk and mud. Fun fun fun. I know some of those people are elderly and I bet it's just great on those hip and knee replacements. Thank goodness it isn't mid winter with 12" of snow on the ground, 20 below zero, and a minus 40 windchill.

I personally would like to drag the overseer of this project out into the mud and beat him with the tire iron I had to use to fix my flat. I'm sure I'm not alone.

 

[GT1999]

The past 2 years (another 2 to go from what I hear) and me driving to a local community college 20-30 minutes a day through I-80 here in Illinois.

1086 tickets have been issued through this ~5 mile strip since the end of April of this year. They have a little sign that announces it, and you can't miss the state cops. They are together in a pack. People from out of state must sh!t their pants when they see it for the first time, lol. There's tons of signs saying "My daddy works here, slow down" and another one stating "Speed monitored by aircraft"!. lmao

There's constantly speed traps with 8+ state cops under the overpass. I have yet to get caught, but you know it's bad when you drive by each morning, bright and early around 7AM and there's 4 cop cars WITH PEOPLE PULLED OVER on the shoulder of I-80. They're horrible. Again I haven't gotten a ticket yet because I set my cruise for 59, and they are always in the same spot, but it's crazy.

If you ever go through I-80 in North/Central Illinois, remember to slow down when passing through Morris, IL through Minooka, IL. If you go 62+ you'll get a ticket, and it's double the fine since it's construction. They've been doing all kinds of crazy road work, it's all messed up. Half the road is on the right, you have to move from the newly built to the old road every frickin' 10 feet. It started almost the exact time I had to take 80 each day and I don't think it's going to ever let up.

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
Hmmm...Interesting. Thanks for the info rahvin.

To put things into perspective, I really didn't get sh!t on as bad as other people. I don't have the city saying I have to pay them $XXXX to have my drive torn up. There are also some unfortunate people that in addition to having their drives torn up, they also have to walk 1/8 of a mile from their house to the next stretch of open road where they can park. Their driveways are torn up, and they have to park their cars on another street and walk back to their houses on torn up sidewalk and mud. Fun fun fun. I know some of those people are elderly and I bet it's just great on those hip and knee replacements. Thank goodness it isn't mid winter with 12" of snow on the ground, 20 below zero, and a minus 40 windchill.

I personally would like to drag the overseer of this project out into the mud and beat him with the tire iron I had to use to fix my flat. I'm sure I'm not alone.

If it's a city project show up at the next city council meeting along with all the disgruntled people and complain. If you scream and yell (figuratively) loud enough they will react. The last thing politicians want is a mob of angry people at city meetings screaming for blood. It's never to late, the city can always change the way things are being done (it will just cost more money).

Public action gets attention cause no one wants to get lynched.

 

[bUnMaNGo]

hmm... they're repaving the roads/slurry seal in my neighborhood and I've had some road blocks... they're doing my street tomorrow so I'm gonna have to park my car outside down the street a little later on tonight before I go to sleep. That means I can't ride my bike tomorrow either cuz there's no way in hell I'm leaving my bike outside overnight on the street, and nobody I know around here has garage space for it 🙁 I just finished summer school today and I wanted to go for a ride tomorow too. gar 😛

 

[Jfur]

they've made my residential street a "detour" for the main road for over 19 months now, and cars whiz by between 30-60 mph. I can't get my car out of the driveway, and my house rattles everytime a bus or large truck whizzes by. NOt to mention the noise, bass, and honking....