The long-awaited west-bound span replacement for the Carquinez Bridge opened today; unfortunately, the freeway leading to the bridge didn’t. Rather, Interstate 80, the major freeway that takes the entire commuter population of Solano and Napa counties to their jobs in San Francisco, Oakland, and other Bay Area cities, was narrowed to a single lane, the old bridge was closed, and Cal-Trans workers carried on with paving and striping the other two lanes of the approach to the new bridge – DURING RUSH HOUR!!! Yes! Seven miles of backup! I spent 2.5 hours driving five miles, and finally gave up and went home. Granted, I didn’t leave home until 7:00, but at that rate, I’d not have reached work until noon. Traffic is still backed up 5 miles, as I listen to the news, but two lanes are open, and they anticipate opening the third around 1:30. WTF were they thinking, you ask? They had not thought, apparently, that there would be so much traffic on a holiday.
Wake-up call for government employees: THE VAST MAJORITY OF WORKERS DO NOT GET VETERAN’S DAY OFF, YOU FUCKING MORONS. IF THEY DID, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MONDAY!!!
Oh, and the reason it’s taking so long to get the paving finished? The asphalt trucks got stuck in traffic. :smack:
Now if it were Ohio, I’d know WHY this happened, it might be the same at CalDOT-they need to hire a consultant to tell it to the executive decision maker as a matter of policy*, as it deviates from a plan they had already set (to keep it closed all day). And the consultant is stuck in traffic.
While they could fly him in, and I suppose that CalDOT has a helicopter instead of antique private biplanes (so that it makes a difference), making a cash expenditure at or above $2K on such short notice would require an executive to make the decision. Thus, they would need to hire a consultant to state this.
*I’m not sure whether it’s “policy” policy or “standard operating procedure” policy. Mother Dear works there, she just says it’s policy, but I get the impression that it’s saying “we screwed up and need to make a change,” and Matt (her 30-something ex-geography teacher boss, lowest level that’s executive) cannot keep straight who is responsible, but remembers faces. Thus everyone is too terrified to present the idea themselves, and he’s so used to it that he won’t accept it any other way
As a former long-time employee of the Texas DOT, I can promise you that no matter how cynical you are about the intelligence of DOT decision makers, you aren’t cynical enough.
