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Duluth interchange project soars $100M over budget
The Duluth News Tribune ^
| November 25, 2019
| Brady Slater
Posted on 11/28/2019 8:29:31 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
What incompetence. But, hey! Taxpayers always are forced to pony-up for such boondoggles. I laugh at these “engineers” and their incompetence.
21
posted on
11/28/2019 9:18:45 AM PST
by
hal ogen
(First Amendment or Reeducation Camp???)
To: Diana in Wisconsin
Yup. Lame. The public pays, he keeps being paid and the cycle of incompetence and dont give a damn just goes on.
22
posted on
11/28/2019 9:36:52 AM PST
by
Sequoyah101
(We are governed by the consent of the governed and we are fools for allowing it.)
To: digger48
...or a riser on an old fuel tank... Dug one up for TXDOT in the middle of Highway 377 many years ago. It was full of groundwater but tested for so many parts per million of hydrocarbons. Nobody researched old maps and whatnot.
23
posted on
11/28/2019 10:00:57 AM PST
by
waterhill
(I Shall Remain, in spite of __________.)
To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Local politicians who spend our money are clueless in being able to grasp the understanding of the length of time you must go to even get ready to build anything.
Mostly because all the the earth worshipping causes will go to court to stop the construction. Oh, and remember, 99% of all regulatory agencies are packed with pro environmentalists. Doesn't matter if you win the first ruling. These groups have big pockets and will go as far as a well chosen judge will allow them to go forward.
Which could slow down a job expected to be halfway complete by Christmas of 2020. Instead the costs keep rising and the project is now languishing at a stalemate in 2024. Just type in the phrase, "The Big Dig" on google and there is a perfect example of what goes wrong with politicians projected costs.
Just imagine the lawsuits coming for any large project in America today. All of a sudden your expected project may still be stuck on the schedule for some judge at some level. Whether it's at the city, county, state, or federal level, your project is being held up by a judge.
OH, and remember, only union workers are allowed to do any construction for 99% of all state, county and cities in America. Is it any wonder that the final price tag for highway construction costs are always 100s of millions more than what the politician's estimated. Especially since someplace along the line someone is going to be up for re-elected. It could also come down to which side has more money in the fight for said Multimillion, or even Billion dollar, project?
The last highway project I know of that finished early and under budget was one built by a private contractor. It was in Southern Ca. After an earthquake, the city brought in a private company. At the time the politicians of LA, understood how low their coffers are getting with each day the freeway was not useable. .
Haven''t heard of one since, although there could be a few other examples, but if so it would be very, very few in number.
Finally, my last word on this, and I doubt anyone is still reading this far into a comment, but thank GOD for Donald Trump. Much of what I ranted about has been getting attention by him. But there is much to do, and I pray he gets re-elected and the Dems get tossed. I have faith that Trump can fix things, but he has a lot of deep state Socialists/Commies to deal with.
24
posted on
11/28/2019 10:06:56 AM PST
by
OneVike
(Just another Christian waiting to go home)
To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
I am a life long accounting/bookkeeper. I have NEVER budgeted for any major purchase & been so far out of the ballpark as this group is.
EVERY SINGLE one involved in this project should be fired. Find a more competent group. NOW.
All of the current group must be directly connected to the “high speed rail” project that California is saddled with.
To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
About the only time you’ll see a construction project come in at its proposed cost, or UNDER cost is if Trump is in charge.
To: OneVike
Ending project labor agreements for federally-funded projects, as well as the Davis-Bacon “prevailing wage” nonsense, and making all federal courts loser-pays for lawsuits, would end some of this cost overrun nonsense.
27
posted on
11/28/2019 11:07:42 AM PST
by
Tolerance Sucks Rocks
(Show me the people who own the land, the guns and the money, and I'll show you the people in charge.)
To: OneVike
There are some projects that have been completed on time and under budget, but as a percentage of all projects, I have no idea what that percentage would be.
28
posted on
11/28/2019 11:09:16 AM PST
by
Tolerance Sucks Rocks
(Show me the people who own the land, the guns and the money, and I'll show you the people in charge.)
To: digger48
That can happen on a personal level, too. When I dig around in the garden bed, at the top of my driveway, in order to uproot weeds, I keep bringing up this old TV cable. I’m basically thinking, WTH?
29
posted on
11/28/2019 11:12:30 AM PST
by
Tolerance Sucks Rocks
(Show me the people who own the land, the guns and the money, and I'll show you the people in charge.)
To: jimtorr
Minnesotans are the nicest Yankees
In my opinion
30
posted on
11/28/2019 11:13:06 AM PST
by
wardaddy
(I applaud Jim Robinson for his comments on the Southern Monuments decision ...thank you)
To: Diana in Wisconsin
BOYYYYY!!!
31
posted on
11/28/2019 11:13:34 AM PST
by
Tolerance Sucks Rocks
(Show me the people who own the land, the guns and the money, and I'll show you the people in charge.)
To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
$100 million, thats just peanuts. The Washington State department of transportation had to write a $400 million change order in the first month of construction of the 520 Floating Bridge Project. They knew the floating pontoon design was flawed but bid it out anyway.
32
posted on
11/28/2019 11:14:11 AM PST
by
shotgun
To: shotgun
Must’ve been those incredible sinking pontoons that were initially fabricated.
33
posted on
11/28/2019 11:15:37 AM PST
by
Tolerance Sucks Rocks
(Show me the people who own the land, the guns and the money, and I'll show you the people in charge.)
To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Also with respect to unknown locations of buried utilities and about the same time as the Floating Bridge fiasco, Big Bertha was tunneling along the Seattle Waterfront when it hit a 6-inch abandoned steel well casing and killed the tunneling machine, delayed the project for a year and ran up the cost by over $100 million...
It was a banner year for WSDOT. They only fired 2 people over these mistakes.
34
posted on
11/28/2019 11:22:41 AM PST
by
shotgun
To: goodnesswins
Hey! They are learnnnning, and theres lots of stuff and its their first day!
In the real world, youre fired! When its a gubmint project, the impetus to move forward and gouge the taxpayers for more loot will be; well, we already spent this much money, we cant stop now.
That reasoning/ excuse will be used at least three times for this endeavor.
35
posted on
11/28/2019 11:29:47 AM PST
by
NativeSon
( Grease the floor with Crisco when I dance the disco)
To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Projects might not be approved if the actual cost is presented up front. Pitch it with a best case cost estimate, get the approval and $$$, then come back for more $$$ when the predictable and fully expected cost over runs arise. Profit!
36
posted on
11/28/2019 11:36:21 AM PST
by
ETCM
To: waterhill
re: “...or a riser on an old fuel tank... Dug one up for TXDOT in the middle of Highway 377 many years ago. It was full of groundwater but tested for so many parts per million of hydrocarbons. Nobody researched old maps and whatnot.”
You would think the old USGS 7 1/2 minute topo maps would show this stuff, and, I’ll bet it does ...
Those old topo maps would show houses and dirt roads that existed when the mapping was done.
37
posted on
11/28/2019 11:43:08 AM PST
by
_Jim
(Save babies)
To: OneVike
The High Five interchange in Dallas was finished well ahead of time and under budget not too many years ago.
38
posted on
11/28/2019 12:00:30 PM PST
by
Spktyr
(Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
To: Spktyr
Project was probably low-balled to get it started. Once started the tax payer is on the hook to finish it. The Big Dig in Boston was a boondoggle that played that scenario. Many get wealthy during the project. The California train is the ultimate boondoggle.
39
posted on
11/28/2019 12:50:28 PM PST
by
Stevenfo
To: Stevenfo
40
posted on
11/28/2019 1:32:28 PM PST
by
Spktyr
(Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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