Road construction stupidity!

[Brian Elfert]

Why the heck can't construction crews warn us BEFORE we get on the highway that it is restricted to 1 lane for overnight work two miles down the road!? Why the heck are they starting overnight work at 6:30 pm anyhow?

I'm so frustrated with local road construction I'm about ready to stop by the MNDOT regional headquarters just down the road and give them a piece of my mind. There are currently four major road construction projects within a few mile area. The major interstate has been under construction for two years now and they also closed the parallel highway 1 mile away and another major highway at the same time. The alternate routes are all closed unless you want to go 10 miles out of your way. The city even decided to tear up a street that is a highway alternative.

Some of these projects are just making future traffic problems worse. They took out a traffic signal and are replacing it with a partial interchange. Now to go one direction on the highway you have to cross 4 lanes of 50 MPH traffic at an uncontrolled intersection.

[Mel Fulks]

I agree,Brian. It's just as nutty around here. They put the signs saying road work ahead about fifty feet from where the work starts. Interstate 64 and 95 are the same road going this city ,it was done to funnel as many cars as possible through a toll booth. Tolls are gone for now but at times traffic is extremely heavy ...maybe putting the the traffic of two roads on one road was not a good idea. Now the city wants to beautify the area so that being at a complete stop will be a more pleasant experience !

[Curt Fuller]

:D:D:D On the other side of that complaint.......because so many people complain about the traffic nightmares that construction creates during peak travel times, I have to go to work at 10,11 pm, midnight, etc to deliver concrete to construction sites during off peak hours. We do a lot of work anymore while most people are sleeping. They wake up a 7, head for work and never notice anything has even been going on. But I agree about signage and notices of closures. They seem to be one of those "low bid" things that usually meet a minimum requirement and could be done a lot better. Now, what about those drivers that have a mile notice that there's a lane closure and wait until they're almost into the barrels before moving over and cutting everyone else off?

[Brian Elfert]

These projects are happening during the day too. They aren't restricting the roads just at night. The one project has reduced the road from three lanes to two narrow lanes during the day and one lane at night. The section of road restricted tonight was not part of the nightly lane closures.

MNDOT likes to minimize road work at night because of safety and extra costs. I do notice they do small projects late at night. When I was getting home from work at 1 am for two weeks straight a few summers back I noticed a number of times late night lane closures to make various quick repairs. People write to the media all the time asking why MNDOT doesn't do work at night to reduce congestion.

[Steve Baumgartner]

The dumbest example I ever encountered was a few years ago when they routed us east to avoid an intersection that was being worked. We went two exits east, detoured off onto a minor side street that was completely choked by the traffic, and then routed back west onto the highway. Guess what? They then sent us directly back through the same interchange where they had originally redirected us, choked down to one lane! And the lane from the original exit wasn't what they were working on!

[Brian Elfert]

This past July we drove I-80 from Iowa to Reno, Nevada. There was more road construction than I had ever seen along that route. The worst project was when they had all traffic on the inside shoulder of I-80 on the 6% grade going into Salt Lake City. My motorhome and trailer are 67 feet long. That grade is bad enough with no construction. My friend who was driving was really holding onto the steering wheel. I would bet there was between 150 and 200 miles of construction in 1400 miles. There were points in Nevada where one project ended and another project started less a mile later.

I've been making trips from Iowa to Reno along I-80 since 2002. They have been expanding I-80 to three lanes each direction between Omaha and Lincoln since that first trip in 2002. It looks like they might finally finish this fall or next summer.

[Curt Harms]

<snip>
Now, what about those drivers that have a mile notice that there's a lane closure and wait until they're almost into the barrels before moving over and cutting everyone else off?

I thought (hoped) that was NY/NJ/SEPA thing. Sorry to hear it.

[Jerry Thompson]

The Florida Dept. of Transportation is having q big lay off. Someone invented a shovel that will stand up by itself.

[John Pratt]

Could be worse. I have driven through sections of Arkansas on I40 that I swear they have never done any road work. It is a bone shaking ride that will make you think you need a kidney repalcement.

[Jim Rimmer]

I thought (hoped) that was NY/NJ/SEPA thing. Sorry to hear it.

There's an area on my route home where the road goes from 3 lanes each way to a 2 lane road. As it narrows there are 1. Signs that say Road Narrows Merge left; 2. Large black and yellow signs pointing to the left; and 3. flashing yellow lights. Two weeks ago, I saw a guy go through the wooden barricades because he hadn't merged and the road ended.

[Steve Peterson]

Of course everyone hates the congestion, but I am glad that they are spending money on road construction. It seems like a lot more useful way to spend our kids money than giving $85 billion a month to the banks.

I think the reason that they do not give warnings before entering the road is that there can be a lot of signs required instead of just one. It would be very confusing if every surface street needed to have signs warning of potential construction within a 1 mile radius.

Steve

[John Coloccia]

Back when I lived in my beloved NH (now a bedroom community of MA....but that's for a different thread), the state was always broke and didn't fool around with this stuff. I used to take the bridge up 17 to get to my house in Rochester. One day, the bridge went under construction.....actually, they built a new bridge, I think. It MAYBE disrupted traffic for a total of a couple of days. They were in and out....temporary this....lickety split that....no trauma.

It's amazing what you can do when you're on an actual budget. The turnpike in Maine, on the other hand, has been under construction for as long as I remember. I haven't been up there in a couple of years, but I'm assuming there's still SOMETHING going on between the tolls and Port Chester, just as there always is....maybe up to Gray, too, for all I know :)

[Rick Potter]

Where I live, if it going to be a major freeway project, the news media labels it "Carmaggeden" and talks about it for weeks, including dire predictions of what might happen. Of course, this only occurs on the West side of LA. The millions of folks on the East side don't get much coverage at all.

Rick Potter

[John Coloccia]

Where I live, if it going to be a major freeway project, the news media labels it "Carmaggeden" and talks about it for weeks, including dire predictions of what might happen. Of course, this only occurs on the West side of LA. The millions of folks on the East side don't get much coverage at all.

Rick Potter

I remember that when I lived in CA. LOL

[glenn bradley]

I remember that when I lived in CA. LOL

So true says the guy who lives well east of the sprawl ;-) Poor signage has got to be a basic instructional class for CalTrans. That's the only explanation for such consistently inadequate work.