More on roads and todays funny

[300jk]

I didnt want to add to the todays funny post about roads so I started this. I am a heavy highway union heavy equipment operator and work for a company who has around 150 employees during our peak season. Union operators, union laborers, union carpenters, union electricians, and union mechanics. Company policy is you work hard or you will be replaced. Quite a bit different than an industrial union setting from what I hear. The thing I would like everyone to realize is this if they dont already. A road job is generally engineered by an engineering firm. The plans are then approved by the state or municipality. The job goes out for bid and the contractor bids the work according to the approved plans. If the contractor gets the job it done as the plans specify, with either state inspectors on the job or inspectors from a consulting firm. They are generally pretty tough and there isnt really anything the contractor can cheat on. With this being my profession it bothers me when the general public think the contractor or the employees are doing shoddy work. We are doing exactly what the engineers with all their degrees designed. The problem isnt the contractor or their workers. The problem comes from a higher place. Same for county and state employees. This how much money we have and this is what we can do. There are many funds for road and bridge work that get sent to other places. Im not going to touch on that.

 

[dpendzic]

as a licensed professional civil engineer in NYS i agree 100%

 

[Billy NY]

I would agree, on the difference between manufacturing and construction in regards to unionized labor. I was a full time heavy equipment operator for 5 years, also drove as needed, lowboy, tri-axle dump etc. Still have my CDL A. Obviously not IUOE, but tried 3 separate times to join locals #14/#15 and #825. Was deemed qualified, but did not have the right connection and was sponsored the last time I tried. No issues with union trades/contractors, spent much of my career in construction working for a union contractor.

Any unionized company with any smarts will instill upon their trades people that their work must comply with the contract documents, fully, and that they must be productive at all times. Both will cost the company significant amounts if either slips, work gets rejected, must be done over or, field labor is not meeting production requirements to stay within what is in the detailed estimate. Trust me, I did the cost accounting for hundreds if not more jobs, large and small, the numbers do not lie, and things go south quickly if the jobs are not supervised and managed properly.

I work for a state agency currently and am in charge of numerous projects, dollar value headed towards $20 million + right now. I also inspect some of the work, but our superintendent/inspector does most of that and one of our main focuses is compliance with contract documents, substantial completion deadlines and cost control. It's a lot to deal with on this side of it, and a lot more if you are the contractor. I have worked that side of it for this agency as well, know the ropes quite well when it comes to either side of the fence.

You made a good point, your company needs to be productive, they only have so many hours in the field labor and NYS DOT is definitely watching everything they do. There are times when a group of us are on site and it appears that there are a bunch of people standing around holding up a shovel or something. This is for a limited time usually and most of us have a significant work load to attend to. In my case I deal with everyone and I mean everyone, hard to get things done with so many interruptions. Public work is no joke from my experience, same is true in the private sector in most instances. Of course there are bad apples in all walks of life, but if one is serious about being successful in any area of construction, you had best show up with your game face on at all times, no room for slackers or arm chair quarter backs, all hands on deck at all times, and most important is jobsite safety !

 

[300jk]

Thank you for understanding my point of view. Many roads I drive down daily are in a state of disrepair. I would also like nice roads. Thats up to the government agencies to decide.

 

[300jk]

You may know over the VPP jobs. Various paving projects. Im not sure where your from but we have a whole bunch here in western New York. Have been getting them for awhile actually. Nothing but a temporary fix. Mill an inch and a half put down an inch and a half. This keeps lots of people happy for a short period of time because the real issues arent addressed. Spend money and put a band aid on it. Keeps the crowd quieter !

 

[old-9]

I always told my apprentices If you don't make the boss money, he does NOT need you.
Joe IBEW, 50 years
And to address paid time off, (holidays, sick days, paid vacations). The FIRST day I got payed for not working was when I retired, (and I earned the pension and SS).

 

[300jk]

Yeah most people dont realize that Im IUOE or
IBEW there is no sick time, no personal days. You work or dont get paid ! On top of that usually there are people waiting to take your job if you cant meet the expectations.

 

[john in la]

I have never worked highway but I have worked as a operator in heavy construction.
Both union and nonunion.
The stories I could tell about cutting corners.

But N.Y. highway construction must be differant.
That or you are calling overlay work heavy road construction.
Around here you can tell where every culvert crosses the road on both interstate and state highways because of the dip in the road. They never get the compaction as good as the undisturbed soil around it.

 

[sms]

For those that say something about standing around in road work. A friend was a supervisor on a NY highway. I forget exact details but it is a minimum of five guys to even remove an obstacle from the highway. Someone to pick up the obstacle a truck in front a truck behind and two flagmen. All for safety from irresponsible drivers. If you don't follow the rules you get in trouble. He was on call all the time and got a minimum number of hours OT everytime he had to go out and see what was in the highway. Made very good money with that overtime.

 

[300jk]

John I dont doubt what you did at all. Yes many of the paving projects are overlay paving. I try not to get involved with them if I can. Job we are finishing up had drainage work, some new sewer work, paving, curb, concrete ect. We have millions of dollars worth of work. I heard from an unreliable source it was almost 150 million. Not unheard of, but may not be correct. We do about everything. Paving , bridge demos, sewer, and water. As well as putting in in new construction like widening ect. So ya we are heavy highway. And there is no cutting corners or trying to slip something by here either. It used to happen for sure. Thats a thing of the past. Inspectors want tickets for every load of stone or whatever. Tickets and verification on just about everything we use !

 

[300jk]

There are all kinds of restrictions. 5 or 6 years ago we were paving on the 90 at night. The ski for the paver which is part of the automation system was in the median. Between East and west bound traffic. About 8 of us standing ther with the owner of the company. Inspector would not let us go across the road to get the ski without a slow down. Thats where we put 2 vehicles on the road in both lanes of the thruway to slow traffic and to hold them up. This was at 2 in the morning. Thats just the way it is and you play by their rules ! Or dont work !

 

[Bruce from Can.]

In all fairness, it isnt really so much the construction of the road bed that fails modern roads, as it is the paved surfaces. Where you and I live there are serious freeze thaw cycles that play heck with our roads, combine that with salt brine.
Heavy trucks, mostly hauling gravel really beat the heck out of our county roads, sometimes to the point were water lays in puddles where the wheels run after a rain.

 

[300jk]

That is a true statement for sure. The freeze, thaw is probably like you said the worst thing for any type of road !

 

[dpendzic]

so true! My bridge painting funds were always raided by the politicians for there pet projects to gain votes and get reelected==who would notice if a bridge is delayed being painted for a few more years? repairs and routine maintenance was not a priority for politicians--just new projects they could show off to the public

 

[whereswaldo]

Carpenter's Union is the same. Got my 55 year member pin last year at our yearly retirement dinner. No such thing as Seniority, either.

 

[Phil-mar Farms]

Theres municipalities that give pensions to the workers instead of increased wages. Now the monies for road repair are used to pay pensions