Service | Rates | Natural Gas | Water | Contact Us | Home
Related stories City allows slow-motion road work Time is money on state projects Workdays not all "working days" Contractors thrive by shuffling crews Months of work lost to 'bad luck' Utility lines can tangle road work "SUE" helps state avoid utility line surprises Delays are cost of penny-wise approach Some bids consider time as well as money Inspectors watch crews waste time |
8.16.04 Combining jobs creates efficiency, frustration Omaha motorists have faced double-barreled frustration in two areas of town. It happens in the name of efficiency. Drive West Maple Road and turn south on 108th Street. It appears you've just left one road construction mess for another. Until the middle of June, the same was true around 72nd Street and West Center Road. Motorists wonder why two major intersecting roads are torn up at the same time. They also might wonder why no more than a few workers are seen on one or the other of the intersecting roads. Here's a big reason why: City and state officials sometimes combine two jobs into a single project. That makes it more efficient for contractors to work. But out on the job site, contractors concentrate on one task each day. They call it the day's "controlling operation." On days when the controlling operation is on West Maple, for example, motorists see few construction workers on 108th. The same was true on 72nd and West Center until Hawkins Construction Co. completed its work on West Center. Work on 72nd itself is to be finished in the fall. Kurt Peyton, a Hawkins vice president, acknowledged that drivers get frustrated seeing just a few workers on the street they use most often. But shifting crew strength, he said, is the most efficient way to progress. The contractor on the combined 108th-West Maple project, Charles Vrana and Son Construction Co., declined to comment. But it's apparent the same practice occurs there. The World-Herald saw an average of 12 workers per day at the combined project. The typical split was 10 workers on one road, just two on the other. |
|||