Just to remember … this is what they started with.
Posted on 11/02/2011 8:05:36 AM PDT by US Navy Vet
The time is almost here: Interstate 680 between Interstate 29 and the Missouri River is scheduled to reopen at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
The roughly three-mile stretch was reduced to rubble this summer by the power of Missouri River floodwaters.
Thanks to agreeable weather and 14-hour workdays, contractors beat deadlines for completing the project, which began in late September.
A reopening ceremony is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Crescent, Iowa, fire station, at 102 W. Florence St. Those expected to attend include Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, Federal Highway Administration Administrator Victor M. Mendez and Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle.
Iowa companies Peterson Contractors of Reinbeck and Reilly Construction of Ossian had until Dec. 23 to get the freeway open to at least one lane in each direction. I-680 will open Wednesday with two lanes in both directions, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation
(Excerpt) Read more at omaha.com ...
be still my heart!
Isn't it weird that Private Companies gets it done faster, better, and cheaper than than K-Dot or M-Dot or all those other Hiked Government Toll Roads!?
One shudders to think of all the useless studies; payoffs to special interests, etc; THAT WERE NOT DONE to get this done quickly.
The normal things are normally done which probably double an triple the cost and timeframes.
Not familiar with this. Are they putting up toll booths?
When I was a kid, we had a key county road wash out in our area. The local farmers couldn't wait for the wheels of bureaucracy to reopen it.
Our local representative (a farmer himself) organized the locals to show up the very next Saturday with their tractors and got the section of the road rebuilt in one afternoon. The wives and smaller kids brought tables, chairs and food so they could keep working. The bigger kids assisted with buckets, picks and shovels.
About three months later, the state got around to inspecting the work, proclaimed it a job well done and paved it over to finish it. And the happy and unexpected ending: every farmer who showed up to work that day had signed in and got about $200 off the next property tax bill.
We took 29 south to St Jo last weekend, and it was in good shape, only a couple areas where it was 2 lanes instead of 4, one of which was Hamburg, which was anticipated.
I really think one of the KEY reasons they could do these repairs so quickly is that the roads were completely closed while the work was being done, so they didn’t have to do that one-lane-at-a-time with crossovers and all. Probably made a big difference.
That and the approximately 2 million dollar bonus they get for completing early.
When people have (financial) motivation, they work hard.
We finally hooked up with two "Follow us and ignore the 'road closed ahead'" salesmen who got us on the right track.
That all said - the flood devastation around I-29 was astounding.
Just to remember … this is what they started with.
Yes, the flood damage was a sight to be seen. Sorry about the road signs... we had people coming here in early July, they were going to come on I-80 then the 680 North loop to come into Omaha for Fort St. There were no signs at the exit to 680 from westbound I-80 in Iowa; the people came 20 miles before finding a sign saying they had to turn around and go back to I-80 into Omaha due to the roads and bridge being closed.
They were lucky they weren't penalized $200. Evidently good people were in charge then.
A old (2000) event. Long but revealing read Shovel Brigade takes on 'roadless' policy.
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