MASON CITY – A repair project in the immediate area of the 12th Street NW Overpass is scheduled to begin on Monday, July 9th and is expected to last for 4-5 weeks. East and west bound lanes will remain open during construction, however lanes in each direction to be reduced in width in order to accommodate construction. This project will include the partial replacement of the bridge approach pavement.
The areas affected are between North Monroe Ave and North Van Buren Ave.
Stay alert and exercise caution when traveling near the construction zone.
As I remember it, the original concrete was not acceptable and they did tear down some of it at the start. This was before the bridge deck was built. There are huge cracks on both the eastbound side and the west bound side of the bridge.
The City decided to do the repairs on their own because it would cost more to take this to court than just buck it up and do it themself. At that time I thought, where is the integrity of the contractor? If I were the contractor, I would be there doing the repairs if I wanted to do business with the City again. But again, look at our City council members, they will hire them again to do the next job. We the tax payers have to foot the bill. This is just wrong. (How old is the bridge?)
FYI
The quality of road construction in Iowa is really bad all over. We have road spec’s that everything built should adhere to. Someone is either getting paid off so the contractor can make more money by skimping, or the people in charge are inept, with no supervision.
Traveling as much as I do, there is a huge difference in Iowa compared to Minnesota. Take the new road being re-done around Janesville, Iowa. It is a horrible mess and the concrete has already been poured. The ride is very rough. Driving in Minneapolis on their new concrete repairs are smooth in comparison. Someone one is falling down on their job and no one with good judgement is supervising this job.
Here in Mason City, the 12th Street Overpass was built using lousy Engineers from the City, State, and Henkle. Supervision was poor at best!!!
LVS – I agree with most of what you wrote. My daily drives for work are as much as 660 miles each day, Monday – Friday, mostly in Iowa.
Highway 3 west of I-35 almost to Hwy 71 is horrid; I-35 north bound slow lane near county highway A-38 has such horrible patches you have to run the fast lane to retain control without dropping below the minimum 40 mph speed limit. My list goes on.
I disagree with your opinion of Minnesota’s highways on one part – the curves. While most states have a degree of slant to their curves, sloping to the inside of the curve, Minnesota does not. In fact, some engineer felt it was necessary to slope the curves of the Hardman Avenue I-494 on/off-ramps to the OUTSIDE, thus increasing the tendency for trucks to roll over unless going very slow, which backs up traffic.
By the way, I-70 across Indiana is almost impossible to drive on east or west bound.
Wake up ANONYMOUSE-The city and state supervised the building of the bridge and are responsible for the problem. There was a issue with the cement when it was being built with the cement not being up to code. I remember construction was stopped for some period of time but was finally OK’d by the state. Obviously they were wrong in approving it and now the taxpayers must foot the bill. It is not a union/non-union issue, it is a state/city engineering issue. That is why the city can’t go back on the contractor for repair costs.
lot lizard that is
henkel is non union! rats! scabs!!!! built that bridge
I beg to clarify – a scab is a slang term used to refer to workers hired to replace striking or locked-out union employees.
Henkel is a local company, hiring your neighbors and friends and mine.
Again – Henkel, if they were the builders, bid the job, and performed as per the city and engineer’s contract requirements… if the bridge and streets were built by a union company, they would have built the bridge and street to the exact same guidance and requirements.
built many bridges truckie dave, dont talk about something you dont know anything about! truck on lizard!
Hmmm…
I don’t know if the construction labor was union or not, however, I do know there were CITY EMPLOYEES and City hired ENGINEERS on-site, reviewing and approving ALL work on the bridge, approaches and streets.
Criticism and complaints need to be focused on the right problem – the supervisors.
thats what NON-UNION labor will get you!!! what a damn joke!!!