Inconvenient road work never moves as quickly as we think it should
THERE ARE TWO SEASONS in Canada, the old saw goes: winter and construction.
We are firmly ensconced in the latter, though real summery days have been in relatively short supply. That might be something of a blessing for those routinely inconvenienced by delays and detours, as hot, hazy and humid can lead to frustrated, angry and raging as drivers encounter construction that seems endless.
Our complaints about road construction and the resultant delays are a summertime rite, as common as talking about the weather.
Whether it’s slowing down as cars are funnelled into a single lane or massive, time-consuming detours that drag on for months (see Conestogo just now), we all have stories about the inconvenience. Likewise, we all have anecdotes about how the construction drags on while workers stand around and equipment sits idle for days on end.
The pace of progress – or the lack thereof – is a sore spot with just about every project.
That’s even more the case when we compare road work (government projects) to the pace of construction in private developments. Entire subdivisions – new roads, houses and all – appear to grow out of the ground even as repaving a small stretch of a road along our commute seems to drag on forever.
Some of that is simply our impression: we pay far more attention to the projects that have an impact on us. And it’s also not a fair comparison, notes Jared Puppe, Woolwich’s acting manager of engineering.
The reconstruction of a road – not just repaving, but a full dig and replacement of underground services – is more complicated than the so-called greenfield development in a new subdivision, he notes.
First off, there are residents to deal with, requiring input and feedback to begin with, and ongoing issues with noise and dust suppression, for instance, that don’t exist in new development. Then there are detours and efforts to keep some access points open. Add in the unknowns that almost always lead to unexpected delays or changes to the plan, and you’ve got a recipe for challenges beyond the typical new build.
“Often, you don’t know what you’re dealing with until you start digging. It’s much more complicated because you don’t know what’s under there,” says Puppe.
He’s had to talk a great deal about road construction, fielding numerous questions and complaints about road work. That’s especially true in Conestogo, even though the work there is being carried out by the Region of Waterloo, Sawmill Road and Northfield Drive being regional roads. That said, the township opted to close some nearby roads of its own, thereby exacerbating the problem and leaving them with some ‘splainin’ to do.
Woolwich closed the Peel Street bridge right off the hop, fearing the increased traffic from the Sawmill Road closure would overwhelm the old steel structure, which is already subject to a three-tonne load limit. As the regional project moved to the next stage, embracing the village’s main intersection, the Glasgow Street bridge was closed.
Access to parts of the village was also eliminated, with the region persuaded to discontinue its earlier attempts to allow some local access. That led to unacceptable traffic volumes and property damage along the likes of Flax Mill and Misty River drives, says Puppe.
The township’s attempts to keep the Glasgow Street bridge open were also misguided he adds.
Woolwich monitored traffic with the use of video cameras. Drivers were routinely ignoring the onevehicle-at-a-time directive, prompting the closure of that bridge too.
“While it has a higher load limit, people were overloading that bridge.
“We decided to shut everything down.”
Better a temporary closure and some shortterm inconvenience than a structural failure of the bridge that sees it closed indefinitely, he suggests.
While acknowledging the work and the closures are a hardship – residents of Golf Course Road, for instance, have to go a long way around to go just a few minutes west of their homes – Puppe stresses that the months of work will yield infrastructure improvements expected to last 60 to 80 years.
“It’ll be a long time before the region is back working in their neighbourhood again.”
That’s likely to be small consolation for the many people inconvenienced in the here and now.
And it’s those people who are most likely aware of every delay and bit of inactivity on the site. Why not just hurry up the pace?
In general, there’s a trade-off between time, resources and money. More people and equipment working around the clock is very expensive. And it causes problems when the work is being done in close proximity to people’s homes.
Because the work is carried out by private contractors and typically awarded based on the lowest bids, there’s every chance the contractor is overextended, allocating scarce resources – there’s no budget for having large amounts of expensive equipment sitting idle waiting for the next site – may mean delays at any and all locations. Throw in similar issues with subcontractors, weather delays and the inevitable surprises, and you’ve got a recipe for construction taking a whole lot longer than seems reasonable to the untrained and often harried driver.
Studies have shown that when you factor in the cost of delays to drivers, the negative impact on residents and the business losses and failures – hello, LRT! – it’s often cheaper to go with the finish-fast option, despite the increase in upfront costs.
As the model stands just now, however, there’s no incentive to save time and money on the part of government or the contractors, bonuses for early completion notwithstanding. It’s increasingly common to see penalties for delays, but those are often explained away such that municipalities don’t apply them. Moreover, such costs are often built into the contracts, or simply tacked on as ex- tras – almost invariably, the taxpayers pick up the tab, no matter who’s at fault.
Bureaucrats seeking to third-party all of the work and all of the potential blame if – well, let’s be real, when – there are screw-ups, delays and budget overruns also add to the cost and to the timelines.
While the Conestogo project is a little ahead of schedule at this point, don’t expect the model to change anytime soon.