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Paving is not complete on I-85 in Greenville and Anderson Ctys. Winter temperatures during our night time working hours do not allow paving operations under 60 degrees F per our South Carolina DOT Contract Specifications. Temperature is the single most critical factor in achieving roadway densities for long pavement life. Bear with us and you will see construction activity again (at night for the traveling public’s safety) when the weather warms back up in March. If you want to see what the finished product will look like take a ride further south on I-85 around mile marker 14 or so. You will find a great riding pavement that meets very stringent cross slope requirements all done at night time while the rest of the world sleeps.
Climate change means higher highs and lower lows, in terms of regional weather/air temps, whether the cause is anthropomorphic or not.
Asphalt is asphalt. Concrete is still concrete. They cool at the same rate today as they did years ago. While there may be some material out there that can be laid down in lower temps and remain stable enough and hard enough for the top layer of highway construction, costs certainly make it a bad choice for paving highways. I am sure the same people that are complaining on this thread today about slow construction would be complaining 10X more in a couple years when the highway crumbles because it was laid down in too cold of temperatures. Talk about inefficiency and tax dollars wasted!
The temps have nothing to do with the workers doing the work. They'd be happy to be making the money in cold or hot temps. The restrictions are there because of the effects the temperatures have on the materials, not the people. lol
FWIW, I used to live high in the Rockies (pun intended), and the window for highway construction and repair was 2-3 months at most, sometimes less.
Projects just can't be left undone for months. There's GOT to be a better way to do these things. I know they add things to pavement mixes to achieve different properties. This kind of thing is certainly manageable.
Who knew there could be so much ignorance in one little thread.
Climate change means higher highs and lower lows, in terms of regional weather/air temps, whether the cause is anthropomorphic or not.
Asphalt is asphalt. Concrete is still concrete. They cool at the same rate today as they did years ago. While there may be some material out there that can be laid down in lower temps and remain stable enough and hard enough for the top layer of highway construction, costs certainly make it a bad choice for paving highways. I am sure the same people that are complaining on this thread today about slow construction would be complaining 10X more in a couple years when the highway crumbles because it was laid down in too cold of temperatures. Talk about inefficiency and tax dollars wasted!
The temps have nothing to do with the workers doing the work. They'd be happy to be making the money in cold or hot temps. The restrictions are there because of the effects the temperatures have on the materials, not the people. lol
FWIW, I used to live high in the Rockies (pun intended), and the window for highway construction and repair was 2-3 months at most, sometimes less.
I wouldn't call it ignorance, Art. While we all acknowledge your superior intellect, I must digress. On my part, I get the fact that weather and/or elements that can't be controlled can impact things such as this.
On the flipside, I find it quizzical that knowing this, it was slated to start in WINTER LMAO
Typical Government Stupidity at its' finest
Last edited by SFLtransplant; 01-05-2011 at 01:35 PM..
Projects just can't be left undone for months. There's GOT to be a better way to do these things. I know they add things to pavement mixes to achieve different properties. This kind of thing is certainly manageable.
If you have a better solution, share it with SCDOT and all the other states and private companies that adhere to these same restrictions/laws of physics. Highway projects are left undone all over the country for months and years even. The whole highway system (a gross liberal display of socialism in the first place) took many, many years to complete. I-35 was under repair/construction for most of my childhood and into my college years - ten years at least.
I wouldn't call it ignorance, Art. While we all acknowledge your superior intellect, I must digress. On my part, I get the fact that weather and/or elements that can't be controlled can impact things such as this.
On the flipside, I find it quizzical that knowing this, it was slated to start in WINTER LMAO
Typical Government Stupidity at its' finest
I imagine the private contractor that is actually completing this work started asap, so that they could finish it asap - and get paid asap. Temperatures here are often above 35 degrees at night this time of year. The only people losing out are the actual workers who can't work on these colder nights.
So you started a thread complaining that work was not going fast enough, and now suggest that work should not even start, delaying completion even further?
I imagine the private contractor that is actually completing this work started asap, so that they could finish it asap - and get paid asap. Temperatures here are often above 35 degrees at night this time of year. The only people losing out are the actual workers who can't work on these colder nights.
So you started a thread complaining that work was not going fast enough, and now suggest that work should not even start, delaying completion even further?
I think they were saying that the project shouldn't have even been scheduled at all and/or the project's start date announced for a date that obviously wouldn't work. That's not too hard to digest, is it?
I worked for many years for private companies in a construction trade that is affected by weather. The goal is to get in as many work days as possible. You don't plan around what you think might happen, weather wise. You press forward. If this had been a warm week (like last week was), work would have been done. Nights above 35 degrees are not rare here this time of year.
Why delay the project? What would that accomplish? What would it save? If the project start date was pushed back like you suggest, and this week was a warm one, there would be some other moronic thread on here complaining about how long it was taking to get this project started.
The OP (and others who have posted) has pre-conceived notions about government-related projects and are trying, despite facts to contrary, to validate those notions. They complain that work isn't happening fast enough, then complain that work was even started in the first place.
This project is being implemented by a private construction company, behaving like any other private construction company would, government-funded or not. Believe me, they don't want idle crews. But if they get a good stretch of weather, they'll get done what they can.
I think they were saying that the project shouldn't have even been scheduled at all and/or the project's start date announced for a date that obviously wouldn't work. That's not too hard to digest, is it?
Exactly. Come on now, Art - you can do better.
Temps are rarely below 35 here in Winter? Since when? I've been here 3 yrs and since that time we've had plenty of nights where the temp is below 35 in winter. It's not uncommon at all.
This whole thing is very symbolic of the whole ineptitude of the public sector. What a joke.
If the people who scheduled this work were serious about not having 'weather days' and getting this job done to exceed those deadlines and get that phat bonus, it would have been started in March or April.
It just defies logic of a person who is not a government drone/zombie, a true free thinker with excellent rationale and common sense - such as myself, that this would be scheduled to start this time of yr knowing the limitations and weather obstacles that would undoubtedly be faced fairly often. Makes it hard to believe that they have competent people calling the shots. But, it is the SCDOT. LOL>!
It seems incredibly odd that one company has told its customers that "paving opetations" cannot continue when the temperature is below 60° (therefore that project is on hold until Spring), yet we have another major road project scheduled to start in early January, one of the coldest months during every year in the Upstate.
It seems incredibly odd that one company has told its customers that "paving opetations" cannot continue when the temperature is below 60° (therefore that project is on hold until Spring), yet we have another major road project scheduled to start in early January, one of the coldest months during every year in the Upstate.
"Incredibly odd" is an understatement.......
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