Monday, July 07, 2008
Endless road works on 86th Street in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Last October, my half of the block between 3rd and 4th Avenue was dug up for work on the Water Mains. For a full week while I was between assignments for my old employer Business Edge, I had no water for several hours a day. The following week, they worked on the other half of the block. By the time they were done, the road was a disgraceful, uneven patchwork. I wondered why road can be laid in a day in England, completely evenly, whereas here, it takes so much longer and the workmanship is pathetic. Of course I really know the answer. The more money the contractors are allowed to milk, the more they will attempt to milk.
After I had been working in Boston for a week or two, I came back for the weekend to find the curb side lane of my side of 86th Street dug up for the entire length of the block. And so it stayed for maybe 3 weeks, until they switched the work to the middle two lanes of the road. There were deep gaping holes for weeks and I wondered how so little could be accomplished in so long! Were they prospecting for oil? Can’t be. It isn’t a wildlife reserve here, and that’s where W wants to drill.
As the weeks went on, the deeper holes were filled in but the middle lanes remained closed. Then at the beginning of June, they started work on the next block over, between 4th and 5th Avenues. It was frustrating for bus riders, as for months they couldn’t catch a bus on this block until 4 in the afternoon, and now they couldn’t catch one for two blocks. The work on that block was only done after dark and then not into the midnight hours, so of course it was even slower than on my block.
In my 4 weeks off work, I saw three men dig a hole a short way from my building, just one day. Unless I blinked and missed it, the only other workmen seen on this block in those weeks were those sitting in the digging machine, engine running, apparently taking a break.
Today I came back from work to find that the ‘work’ on my block had once again shifted. Now, both lanes on my side of the street are closed and traffic is confined to the other half of the road. I can’t say that I’ve noticed much happening on the next block either.
I wonder how this time is being justified and how much is being paid for this disgraceful sham. I will take a picture of the ‘workmanship’ when they finally re-open the road. I expect that it will have to be closed again at some point to be re-surfaced. Jobs for the boys? Money under the table? Perhaps those questions are rhetorical. A total disgrace? Nothing rhetorical about that one and no doubt about the answer either!
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After I had been working in Boston for a week or two, I came back for the weekend to find the curb side lane of my side of 86th Street dug up for the entire length of the block. And so it stayed for maybe 3 weeks, until they switched the work to the middle two lanes of the road. There were deep gaping holes for weeks and I wondered how so little could be accomplished in so long! Were they prospecting for oil? Can’t be. It isn’t a wildlife reserve here, and that’s where W wants to drill.
As the weeks went on, the deeper holes were filled in but the middle lanes remained closed. Then at the beginning of June, they started work on the next block over, between 4th and 5th Avenues. It was frustrating for bus riders, as for months they couldn’t catch a bus on this block until 4 in the afternoon, and now they couldn’t catch one for two blocks. The work on that block was only done after dark and then not into the midnight hours, so of course it was even slower than on my block.
In my 4 weeks off work, I saw three men dig a hole a short way from my building, just one day. Unless I blinked and missed it, the only other workmen seen on this block in those weeks were those sitting in the digging machine, engine running, apparently taking a break.
Today I came back from work to find that the ‘work’ on my block had once again shifted. Now, both lanes on my side of the street are closed and traffic is confined to the other half of the road. I can’t say that I’ve noticed much happening on the next block either.
I wonder how this time is being justified and how much is being paid for this disgraceful sham. I will take a picture of the ‘workmanship’ when they finally re-open the road. I expect that it will have to be closed again at some point to be re-surfaced. Jobs for the boys? Money under the table? Perhaps those questions are rhetorical. A total disgrace? Nothing rhetorical about that one and no doubt about the answer either!
