Being unemployed, I hunt jobs daily. Not employment, jobs. I am doing some subcontracting on some highway bridge maintenance work. The first time I have ever done anything needing the highway shut down. (Highway department procedures, news notices.) We only had four days to do the job. One day for the north bound entrance/exit ramps, one day for the south, one day for the north highway portion, and another for the south. Ramp road traffic was detoured to other entrance ramps. The highway traffic was detoured via the exit and entrance ramps. Four lane traffic had to be funneled down to the one lane exit/entrance ramps.
Anyways, being a first timer, I was amazed at some of the general public. People would drive by yelling "azzholes", "hurry up", or honk and flip us the finger. Even just honking (which took getting used to, to keep focus on the task). One guy yelled me a question and he didn't ask nice. "You shut the frackin highway down to paint a bridge ?" Which is not what we did. It got cleaned and then inspected by the highway department. Since it passed it was sealed with paint and then sealer. Even if you see a bridge that looks like concrete, most likely it is painted. We did add a trim color, of which I can question why it was done. Given these financial times.
So, I am thinking about those poor folks who were yelling at us. Life must suck for them to become bothered by everyday occurrences. This work was listed for the general public to see and is necessary. Granted getting stuck in traffic sucks yet still I wonder. Do they cuss folks who cause traffic backups due to getting into an accident ? It reminds me of that saying that some alcoholics say. "Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things which I can not change and the courage to change the things I can." That is one blessing I have been blessed with that I am thankful for. Many people, my wife included, think that I do not care about things because I say "whatever" ( I have seen that phrase catching on ). It is what it is and you gotta do what you gotta do. All the bitchin and moaning in the world ain't gonna make it any better and actually makes it worse.
Y'all, enjoy your day. No matter what it brings.

I typically smile and wave, although I am frequently impressed by the ratio of people standing around bullshitting vs people who appear to be working. But it is hot and heavy work that needs to be done and I can't be angry at those folks for doing their job.

Look at it from the drivers perspective.

He drives through plenty of construction daily. He is inconvienced daily (by construction projects). His nerves get frazzled due to traffic and other life issues....

Then the "new" projects pop up requiring the closure of the only bridge that he didnt have problems on....

Not saying its right... but. LOL

Have a wonderful day anyway.

sounds much like 696 out here right now
all the bridges being painted/inspected, and some - getting full resurfacing

which of course leads to the other breed of azzhats - those who cry about the poeple who are in the "closing" lane.
yes - I know - it would be WONDERFUL if everyone just lined up early. but - not gonna happen. really - it wont.
the only other answer is to fill up that lane. dont make it a better choice.
because what really screws it up is those who try and block. they cause the brake cascade. and the brake cascade is what make it all go slower & makes it jerky and builds the frustration.
yes - FILL the closing lane. dont make it "short cut" for people who are more important than you.

Cliff, I feel your pain.
Now you have an idea of how it feels to be a progressive ('liberal') on PFF.


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Mean People Suck

[This message has been edited by NEPTUNE (edited 07-13-2009).]

Hmm. Sounds like the big wigs didn't inform the general public of what's about to occur and maybe the job was being performed during the busiest time of the day? Here in the Bay Area; work that involves serious down time is performed at midnight and is well advertized. That said, we the general public will smile as we give you the finger.

Just once, I would like to see a sign giving an honest and accurate description of work ahead.
1 man working.
4 men standing around.

ya think?


Where the short bus stops?


What does this mean? Dead men working? Men working in a dead end job?

[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 07-13-2009).]

quote Originally posted by maryjane: Just once, I would like to see a sign giving an honest and accurate description of work ahead. 1 man working. 4 men standing around.

I think the honking and yelling stem from situations like the one Don describes, not because their lives are miserable or lacking. This is not a comment on you Cliff, but I have stopped counting the times I have seen a scenario like this. It is irratating everytime I see it.

Jim

quote Originally posted by WhiteDevil88: I typically smile and wave, although I am frequently impressed by the ratio of people standing around bullshitting vs people who appear to be working.

quote Originally posted by maryjane: Just once, I would like to see a sign giving an honest and accurate description of work ahead. 1 man working. 4 men standing around.

quote Originally posted by jimbolaya: I think the honking and yelling stem from situations like the one Don describes, not because their lives are miserable or lacking. This is not a comment on you Cliff, but I have stopped counting the times I have seen a scenario like this. It is irratating everytime I see it.

Heh, ... that reminds me of an episode of the BC comic strip (cave man funnies related to modern life). A Sunday paper episode with larger longer clips/frames. The first frame was large. A road work crew was working, maybe twenty men, all busy. Wheel barrel work, shovel work, pick work, painting work, tape measure work, surveying work, heavy equipment work, all men were working. The second frame was smaller, depicting a look out (flag man) who yells the warning "man on wheel coming" (which means a motorist). The third frame was again large showing all twenty men doing nothing. Sitting and eating, talking, leaning on a shovel. Different kinds of no progress. The forth frame was the all clear notice from the other flag man and the last frame shows them all to be busy again. It must have been twenty years since I have seen that episode but I guess I'll never forget it. I have been reminded of it every time I go through a construction zone. Were I a job superintendent I would fire anyone who could not find something to do. As an employee/contractor I can tell you this. It is what keeps me working. Heh, I am unemployed and still working, .
No Jim, I am convinced that their lives are miserable and lacking. I have met their kind in different aspects of my/their lives. There was no shovel leaning going on at my job, not one bit. I would not have posted if there were. They were cussing as progress was being made. They were also cussing at the wrong people. Did I cuss back ? , no, I did not. I did come up with a smart azz remark or two though. Just to add to the misery they must love to wallow in, .

quote Originally posted by madcurl: Hmm. Sounds like the big wigs didn't inform the general public of what's about to occur and maybe the job was being performed during the busiest time of the day? Here in the Bay Area; work that involves serious down time is performed at midnight and is well advertized. That said, we the general public will smile as we give you the finger.

No curly, not so. I so no ineptitude in the job planning. The road closures were well announced. I even saw film coverage of my project (half completed) during an announcement. I am also sure there is a listing we can go to of all project closures if we do not see the traffic news on TV or the paper. This was a Texas Department of Transportation project. Of which all details of the work plan had to be up to snuff . Which is why we had four select days. Two on the weekend before the 4th of July weekend, and two on the weekend after.
I am not sure why it was not night work. Painting is problematic more so at night but we ended up working at night anyway.

quote Originally posted by cliffw: We did add a trim color, of which I can question why it was done. Given these financial times.

I also questioned the need for it as the trim work was time consuming. Even the sealer had to be trimmed in as it was only put on over the trim color. I fell into this gig on a fluke. I was asked by a passing neighbor that I always wave at (any neighbor) if I could ride to Lubbock Tx and drive back a work truck, for $100.00 plus food. Their projects up there were actual construction, not maintenance. All the bridge work is painted as my project now is. We are talking about a lot of extra work on a grand scale. For Aesthetics.
As taxpayers, we need to look at this. I like pretty and do not like unsightly but we are paying a pretty penny for it, and, increasing road work delays. Many bridges have retaining wall construction for the grade angle to be a bridge. These are usually precast cement panels. The new better look is the fake stone wall look. Which is randomly painted three or four colors, on site. It does look good and I do have pride in appearances but, I am trying to save money for "Cap and Trade" and "Obama Health Care", .

quote Originally posted by madcurl: That said, we the general public will smile as we give you the finger.

Again, not so curly. Many did smile and wave as Stimpy said he does. Although it did not happen this time, the guy I was working for who does this regularly said breast flashes are not unusual.

[This message has been edited by cliffw (edited 07-14-2009).]

People are azzholes, just ignore them. I'm sure there are plenty of warning signs telling them about the work ahead, so they can take an alternate route. If they choose to stay in the traffic, too bad. Do they think the bridge will inspect, repair, or paint itself?

quote Originally posted by avengador1: People are azzholes, just ignore them.

But, but, they are crying out for recognition, .

quote Originally posted by NEPTUNE: Cliff, I feel your pain. Now you have an idea of how it feels to be a progressive ('liberal') on PFF.

I do not see the correlation ?
Progressive is a choice. Road work is a necessity.
I could also flash you my badge. I did not check this political. Would you like me to get political on you ? I will.
Myself ? I don't care what anyone thinks. Except just enough to step into the lions den to defend and promote my beliefs. I even like a good fight.
If you were me, being a progressive on PFF would be like being the icing on the PFF cake. If you were right.

Hi Cliffw,
Sorry you get that kind of treatment. For myself, I don't mind construction too much, since here in Michigan, we need it badly! Lots of crumbling, dangerous bridges! I disagree a little bit about the aesthetics of painting the bridges; I kinda like seeing my tax dollars at work, and knowing that it might keep the bridge looking good for a longer period of time.

They just got done doing a bridge in Dearborn, and it looks tons better! It has a fake brick motif on it, and it looks like it only took them one extra day to do the work. The bridge looks like it cost more than it probably did, and with the sealer on it, it should last longer, too. While they were painting the "brick", they also reseeded the grass on the ramps. Now the whole area looks improved. To me it was worth one more day of traffic aggravation.

Hopefully more people will see that where you are working.

Personally, I think most of the frustration you're witnessing is because folks expect the road to always be in working order and to never be inconvenienced by road or bridge maintenance. Which, is being just plain silly. They are also are upset with the way others are driving, cutting in front of them or somehow being in the faster lane. You do know that the other lane always moves faster, right? But, the real problem is most folks have lost what we used to call common decency and respect for others. I mean, get real. Is it really necessary to call out to road workers and call them stupid dumb names? Folks do it out of frustration or a lack of common decency. We're leading ourselves right into the depths of the garbage dump and we've got no one to blame but ourselves. This kind of action is increasingly becoming more acceptable, sad but, we've let it happen.

Ron

[This message has been edited by blackrams (edited 07-15-2009).]

You should have seen me yesterday - all worked up and cussing whoever farked the freeway all up. I figured some moron had driven into somebody in rush hour traffic again...

come to find out there was apparently some bigwig in town and they blocked off the freeway for his motorcade till it made it out to Selfridge ANG base. Damn teleprompter-in-chief made a big mess of the commute home.

quote Originally posted by D B Cooper: You should have seen me yesterday - all worked up and cussing whoever farked the freeway all up. I figured some moron had driven into somebody in rush hour traffic again... come to find out there was apparently some bigwig in town and they blocked off the freeway for his motorcade till it made it out to Selfridge ANG base. Damn teleprompter-in-chief made a big mess of the commute home.

DB that was Bush's fault. Blame it on him. LOL

quote Originally posted by D B Cooper: Around here it gets frustrating because 7 months of every calendar year 30-40% of the lane miles in the state are all marked as 'construction zones' simultaneously. It's not frustration at the thought of having to be patient while they get the work done - rather it's the fact that they have a crew of 10 workers for one shift 5 days a week on a job that has 19 lane-miles of roadway closed. The interstate freeways are expensive vital infrastructure. If they didn't serve an important purpose, they wouldn't be there. If the state needs to do some maintenance that requires lane closures on one of them, we'd prefer that they get out there, get the work done, and get out in a timely manner rather than starting 9 jobs at the same time and milking all 9 of them till wintertime sets in. In our manufacturing plants, sometimes maintenance needs to shut down a production line for repairs. You know what ? They are on that machine like stink on #$@t 24 hours a day till it's back up and running. If they did like MDOT and shut down 1/3 of the shop for repairs 7 months a year, the company would go under.

Yeah, I feel your pain on that issue. Seems like I see it on every road trip I take, regardless of the state (political boundary) I'm traveling through. Lots of closed lanes for roadwork and no roadworkers. Can't explain it but, that is frustrating. So, when I do see road work being done, I'm thankful.

Ron

quote Originally posted by blackrams: Yeah, I feel your pain on that issue. Seems like I see it on every road trip I take, regardless of the state (political boundary) I'm traveling through. Lots of closed lanes for roadwork and no roadworkers. Can't explain it but, that is frustrating. So, when I do see road work being done, I'm thankful. Ron

I know it doesn't sound like it, but I am too. Fortunately this year the one big jobsite I commute through has no entrance or exit ramps in it, and flows pretty decent despite only having a single lane open in each direction. And they are making steady progress on the job. IMO this could be because Carlo construction doesn't have so many simultaneous jobs this year.

Last summer that one company had two seperate job sites on I94; one 8 miles long, the other 13 miles long that were both restricted to one lane each way. It's just way too much to bite off all at once IMO.

quote Originally posted by D B Cooper: *snip* That said, none of that has anything to do with the guys that are actually out working on those projects. It's all MANAGEMENT and PLANNING related.

While that is often the case, delays can happen a lot during the actual paving process. Getting the asphalt setup just right (correct moisture, etc) is a fairly difficult process. Once you get good asphalt though, its off to the races.

quote Originally posted by madcurl: Hmm. Sounds like the big wigs didn't inform the general public of what's about to occur and maybe the job was being performed during the busiest time of the day? Here in the Bay Area; work that involves serious down time is performed at midnight and is well advertized. That said, we the general public will smile as we give you the finger.

quote Originally posted by cliffw: No curly, not so. I so no ineptitude in the job planning. The road closures were well announced. I even saw film coverage of my project (half completed) during an announcement. I am also sure there is a listing we can go to of all project closures if we do not see the traffic news on TV or the paper. This was a Texas Department of Transportation project. Of which all details of the work plan had to be up to snuff . Which is why we had four select days. Two on the weekend before the 4th of July weekend, and two on the weekend after. I am not sure why it was not night work. Painting is problematic more so at night but we ended up working at night anyway.

Yeah, maybe it's a Bay Area thing, but (most if not all) work is performed at night starting @ 21:00HRs to 05:00HRS. I'm guessing the Californians are paying the extra buck for night shift work and all. That said, regardless of the shift people will find a reason to flip you the bird or mouth off. There's always a pot hole with a drivers name on it and therefore--- they vent.

Side note: I was on I-152 west and notice construction work during the busy time of the day (15:00-18:00). I decided to hang out and watch, "Super Cars Exposed" on the speed channel till 19:00HRs. When I approached 152 (around 20:00); the road crew and traffic was gone. The only reason why I was aware of the construction was the week before when I saw the traffic jam. So in part, the general public either is ;
a. too busy to even tune into the news.
b. They can't do nothing about it anyway (going around is too long)-- so they go.
c. ego. I own the road mentality thus the reason for mouthing off.

quote Originally posted by madcurl: That said, we the general public will smile as we give you the finger.

quote Originally posted by cliffw: Again, not so curly. Many did smile and wave as Stimpy said he does. Although it did not happen this time, the guy I was working for who does this regularly said breast flashes are not unusual.

Hehe. So there's benefits. Yeah, I was joking about the finger thingie for I don't use it, but I have noticed other drivers doing it.

[This message has been edited by madcurl (edited 07-15-2009).]

A public apology to you NEPTUNE.

quote Originally posted by NEPTUNE: Cliff, I feel your pain. Now you have an idea of how it feels to be a progressive ('liberal') on PFF.

quote Originally posted by cliffw: I do not see the correlation ? Progressive is a choice. Road work is a necessity. I could also flash you my badge. I did not check this political. Would you like me to get political on you ? I will. Myself ? I don't care what anyone thinks. Except just enough to step into the lions den to defend and promote my beliefs. I even like a good fight. If you were me, being a progressive on PFF would be like being the icing on the PFF cake. If you were right.

My post was out of line. Not only do I not have a badge, I could care less who interjects what into any of my threads. I was trying to be a smart azz but I think that I was just an azz.
I do not see the correlation nor can I imagine your pain. Or that of conn, jazzman, and others who no longer post. I miss them. I wish they had thicker nut sacks. Myself, I love being the underdog.
Neptune, sincere apologies for how I stated my thoughts. The thoughts stand though; .

quote Originally posted by blackrams: You do know that the other lane always moves faster, right?

Ron, , that just is not true. What, you don't believe me ? Get in it and find out, .