Doing the road work at night is possible, especially with the low-voltage work lighting that's available now. In the fall of 2023 I moved back to my hometown, Cincinnati, OH, after 17 years in Indianapolis, IN. I-75 has always been known for heavy traffic in Cincinnati, at least until you get about 10 miles or so north of downtown. But I was surprised to notice that work on I-75 and other major highways was being done at night! Apparently, they shut down what lanes they have to after 10 pm, and work until 5 or 6, then re-open as many lanes as possible. I don't know if they're doing that in other cities in Ohio. But it's probably a major help for commuters in Cincinnati. It doesn't really affect me--I'm 75 years old and retired. And I still mostly avoid 75 anyway. But it does make a lot of sense from the view of the citizens. (No, Indiana is not doing this--they still do their road work in the daytime, making a mess of the traffic.)
WADoT also schedules (some of) its work for night. You see signs announcing interchange work running from 10PM to 5AM. That doesn't mean they don't neck I-90 westbound coming into Issaquah down to one lane in the morning when I'm heading to the gym. Not that I'm bitter.
Sadly, many of those night worksites have the illumination aimed directly into oncoming drivers' eyes. The masts need to be taller and lamp cutoffs sharper to throw the light where it's needed.
“When government officials enjoy sovereign immunity for law-breaking or for torts, as they sometimes do because they’re government officials, the damage done is borne by their victims, not by the government.”
And if a citizen should happen to sue successfully against a government official, the relief that plaintiff enjoys is paid for by the mass of taxpayers, never the offending official. The arrogant bureaucrats never pay.
When a homeless bum set fire to pallets stored under an overpass in Atlanta a few years ago, a fire started that collapsed a section of Interstate 85 just North of Atlanta. Completely shut down the road both ways for months. The contractor was incentivized to complete construction early with a big bonus. The work was completed in record time and the contractor got his bonus and Atlanta got its interstate back up fast. I wish more incentives like this were utilized.
Georgia DOT does a pretty good job of doing interstate re-paving on nights and weekends to this day BTW.
In addition to the "carrot" offered for timely completion, contracts should also have a "stick" to emphasize the importance of meeting the contractual stipulations.
Oooooh, I can't wait to hear the ideas about re-aligning incentives -- cost-externalization is a massive burden that even Big Balls can't maybe put a number on! 🤣 I am riveted! Another great one, Glenn.
Possibly the greatest cost externalized by the government is the burden to comply with regulatory regimes. Most regulation results in significant economic burden for on one or more groups.
All too often, these regulations do not address the problems they were intended mitigate, or even make the problems worse, which makes these externalized costs especially irksome. Our health care system falls far short of what it could be, primarily because of regulations intended to protect patients.
Alarmingly, these externalized costs often the goal. Any government body that wants to prevent certain activities can regulate those activities into oblivion. This is how they are trying to destroy our energy production.
The time lost by drivers on this stretch is a toll, paid in hours rather than dollars. An efficient, responsive government could use taxes and tolls to create a transportation trust fund that could pay for the sorts of incentives/overtime that would convert this burden from hours to dollars. But be careful what you wish for. Maryland used to do this, and had great roads when I was a kid. Then in 1984 they started raiding the trust fund to balance the budget, and never stopped. Now they have high tolls, gas taxes, and shitty, congested roads.
The brilliant political satirist PJ O'Rourke wrote an article describing such a scene of blocked lanes and seemingly interminable construction when little or no work was being performed, on the West Side Highway of Manhattan. It was one of his best pieces, published as I recall circa 2002-2004 in perhaps New York Magazine. Oh how I have tried, and failed, to find that masterpiece so I can savor it again.
Hey Professor, don't you have WAZE downloaded onto your phone? Don't you use it if you have it? I don't trust I95 to go 10 miles without checking it first. Work arounds are quickly provided and save valuable time.
My section of I95 has no real workarounds unless one winds their way to the A1A. There's too much water to the west. I lived in California for years and never experienced as much road excitement as I've seen on I95.
Ana: Different roadways separated by about 3,000 miles but I sympathize with your plight. I'm sorry to say that I live in the People's Democratic Republic of Connecticut and I am mostly relegated to driving on I 95 which traverses itself mostly north and south along the East Coast. We have water to the east of the highway and have US 1 as a not very good alternative along with some backroads if you know where they are.
In CT our highway geniuses constructed 95 just a short distance from the shoreline of the Long Island Sound - the "Gold Coast" where property values are out of sight. So no expansion possibilities. 95 is a 2 lane highway in both directions east of New Haven at least up to the Rhode Island border. Always overcrowded. Thank goodness for Waze.
The McArthur Maze fire in Oakland, CA is a powerful proof of your thesis by counter-example. By incentivizing fast work, the repairs were completed in only 26 days. California saved not only travelers’ time, but also construction costs.
Compare that to the damage at the same location from the Lima Prieta earthquake. Speed was not emphasized, so it ended up costing billions and snarling traffic for years.
I think it was Thomas Sowell who said something to the effect of there are not choices in life, there are tradeoffs. When a party can make "choices" and transfer the tradeoffs to other parties, especially a diffuse number of parties, they will. When I hear a tax hike pitch that "this is a small increase in what you pay", i.e. you won't feel the effect, I know the effect I won't feel, will be multiplied by thousands or more for the people telling me that.
Wait. You say “whatever it does cost comes out of the state’s pocket. The delays come out of yours and mine.” But isn’t the state’s pocket yours and mine to begin with? That is, as a general rule it is more expensive to make a construction project run 24/7 to reach completion quicker. And so you should expressly say here “I think it is better to increase taxes incrementally to speed up state construction, or to take the funds from another use.” But it’s not someone else’s money.
I’ve worked for a State Highway Agency in the Northeast US for a few years. I will confine my remarks to the observation that we got a significant amount of pressure to reduce driver delays to the maximum extent possible after a certain Governor, who shall remain nameless, got caught in a nasty backup. If the elected leadership decides it is a priority, the agencies can make it happen. Incentives matter.
I have been told that the highway departments cater to the contractors, who relate that getting projects done quickly would wreak havoc on their trade. Going from project to downtime to project would make a hard business model for them, they want a nice, reliable, consistent income stream. So projects are managed, not completed.
There is a major cost-externalization taking place within the legal industry, "electronic filing." In the old days, when a lawsuit was filed, a support staff would take a check for the filing fee, the original summons, complaint, and exhibits, and 2 copies (if there was one defendant) down to the clerk. The clerk would stamp the copies, issue the summons, and if the staff person waited around for a few minutes, he/she would leave with a service packet ready to go and a copy for the office.
The cataloguing and and organizing of the file would take place in the bowels of the clerk's office. The filing fee, of course, at least in part went towards paying the salaries of the clerk's staff.
Now, all the organizing and cataloging must be done on the lawyer end. Each document must be uploaded individually into the clerk's database and the document must be identified into preset categories and then further described with customizing text. Often this must be done by the actual attorney, not a staff person, because the attorney will have the sophistication to know exactly how to characterize each document, and it's the attorney's account anyways. Furthermore, if something is time sensitive, like a motion response nearing its deadline, the attorney will not want to delegate the task in case something goes awry when the less sophisticated person is handling the uploading. Very different than just sending a staff person down to the clerk's office to have something stamped in.
Instead of a specialized person hired by the clerk's office to take care of organizing and cataloging files all day long, the task has been sloughed off to the attorney, the most highly paid person in the legal industry. The cost is passed on to the litigants. You think that filing fees went down as a result of this cost externalization? No, you know better than that.
Doing the road work at night is possible, especially with the low-voltage work lighting that's available now. In the fall of 2023 I moved back to my hometown, Cincinnati, OH, after 17 years in Indianapolis, IN. I-75 has always been known for heavy traffic in Cincinnati, at least until you get about 10 miles or so north of downtown. But I was surprised to notice that work on I-75 and other major highways was being done at night! Apparently, they shut down what lanes they have to after 10 pm, and work until 5 or 6, then re-open as many lanes as possible. I don't know if they're doing that in other cities in Ohio. But it's probably a major help for commuters in Cincinnati. It doesn't really affect me--I'm 75 years old and retired. And I still mostly avoid 75 anyway. But it does make a lot of sense from the view of the citizens. (No, Indiana is not doing this--they still do their road work in the daytime, making a mess of the traffic.)
WADoT also schedules (some of) its work for night. You see signs announcing interchange work running from 10PM to 5AM. That doesn't mean they don't neck I-90 westbound coming into Issaquah down to one lane in the morning when I'm heading to the gym. Not that I'm bitter.
TXDoT is doing a lot of the YEARS-LONG construction project on the Loop 1604 ring road on the north side of San Antonio at night.
Sadly, many of those night worksites have the illumination aimed directly into oncoming drivers' eyes. The masts need to be taller and lamp cutoffs sharper to throw the light where it's needed.
Grumble grumble cataract surgery grumble grumble.
I say send in the Big Balls!
“When government officials enjoy sovereign immunity for law-breaking or for torts, as they sometimes do because they’re government officials, the damage done is borne by their victims, not by the government.”
And if a citizen should happen to sue successfully against a government official, the relief that plaintiff enjoys is paid for by the mass of taxpayers, never the offending official. The arrogant bureaucrats never pay.
When a homeless bum set fire to pallets stored under an overpass in Atlanta a few years ago, a fire started that collapsed a section of Interstate 85 just North of Atlanta. Completely shut down the road both ways for months. The contractor was incentivized to complete construction early with a big bonus. The work was completed in record time and the contractor got his bonus and Atlanta got its interstate back up fast. I wish more incentives like this were utilized.
Georgia DOT does a pretty good job of doing interstate re-paving on nights and weekends to this day BTW.
In addition to the "carrot" offered for timely completion, contracts should also have a "stick" to emphasize the importance of meeting the contractual stipulations.
Oooooh, I can't wait to hear the ideas about re-aligning incentives -- cost-externalization is a massive burden that even Big Balls can't maybe put a number on! 🤣 I am riveted! Another great one, Glenn.
Possibly the greatest cost externalized by the government is the burden to comply with regulatory regimes. Most regulation results in significant economic burden for on one or more groups.
All too often, these regulations do not address the problems they were intended mitigate, or even make the problems worse, which makes these externalized costs especially irksome. Our health care system falls far short of what it could be, primarily because of regulations intended to protect patients.
Alarmingly, these externalized costs often the goal. Any government body that wants to prevent certain activities can regulate those activities into oblivion. This is how they are trying to destroy our energy production.
The time lost by drivers on this stretch is a toll, paid in hours rather than dollars. An efficient, responsive government could use taxes and tolls to create a transportation trust fund that could pay for the sorts of incentives/overtime that would convert this burden from hours to dollars. But be careful what you wish for. Maryland used to do this, and had great roads when I was a kid. Then in 1984 they started raiding the trust fund to balance the budget, and never stopped. Now they have high tolls, gas taxes, and shitty, congested roads.
The brilliant political satirist PJ O'Rourke wrote an article describing such a scene of blocked lanes and seemingly interminable construction when little or no work was being performed, on the West Side Highway of Manhattan. It was one of his best pieces, published as I recall circa 2002-2004 in perhaps New York Magazine. Oh how I have tried, and failed, to find that masterpiece so I can savor it again.
Hey Professor, don't you have WAZE downloaded onto your phone? Don't you use it if you have it? I don't trust I95 to go 10 miles without checking it first. Work arounds are quickly provided and save valuable time.
Even Googol Maps can provide that sort of alternate-routing around traffic delays.
My section of I95 has no real workarounds unless one winds their way to the A1A. There's too much water to the west. I lived in California for years and never experienced as much road excitement as I've seen on I95.
Ana: Different roadways separated by about 3,000 miles but I sympathize with your plight. I'm sorry to say that I live in the People's Democratic Republic of Connecticut and I am mostly relegated to driving on I 95 which traverses itself mostly north and south along the East Coast. We have water to the east of the highway and have US 1 as a not very good alternative along with some backroads if you know where they are.
In CT our highway geniuses constructed 95 just a short distance from the shoreline of the Long Island Sound - the "Gold Coast" where property values are out of sight. So no expansion possibilities. 95 is a 2 lane highway in both directions east of New Haven at least up to the Rhode Island border. Always overcrowded. Thank goodness for Waze.
The McArthur Maze fire in Oakland, CA is a powerful proof of your thesis by counter-example. By incentivizing fast work, the repairs were completed in only 26 days. California saved not only travelers’ time, but also construction costs.
Compare that to the damage at the same location from the Lima Prieta earthquake. Speed was not emphasized, so it ended up costing billions and snarling traffic for years.
I think it was Thomas Sowell who said something to the effect of there are not choices in life, there are tradeoffs. When a party can make "choices" and transfer the tradeoffs to other parties, especially a diffuse number of parties, they will. When I hear a tax hike pitch that "this is a small increase in what you pay", i.e. you won't feel the effect, I know the effect I won't feel, will be multiplied by thousands or more for the people telling me that.
"Let's externalize everything!" is just another way of saying "we're all in this together".
Wait. You say “whatever it does cost comes out of the state’s pocket. The delays come out of yours and mine.” But isn’t the state’s pocket yours and mine to begin with? That is, as a general rule it is more expensive to make a construction project run 24/7 to reach completion quicker. And so you should expressly say here “I think it is better to increase taxes incrementally to speed up state construction, or to take the funds from another use.” But it’s not someone else’s money.
Perfesser- I'd be willing to chip in on that billboard...
I’ve worked for a State Highway Agency in the Northeast US for a few years. I will confine my remarks to the observation that we got a significant amount of pressure to reduce driver delays to the maximum extent possible after a certain Governor, who shall remain nameless, got caught in a nasty backup. If the elected leadership decides it is a priority, the agencies can make it happen. Incentives matter.
I have been told that the highway departments cater to the contractors, who relate that getting projects done quickly would wreak havoc on their trade. Going from project to downtime to project would make a hard business model for them, they want a nice, reliable, consistent income stream. So projects are managed, not completed.
There is a major cost-externalization taking place within the legal industry, "electronic filing." In the old days, when a lawsuit was filed, a support staff would take a check for the filing fee, the original summons, complaint, and exhibits, and 2 copies (if there was one defendant) down to the clerk. The clerk would stamp the copies, issue the summons, and if the staff person waited around for a few minutes, he/she would leave with a service packet ready to go and a copy for the office.
The cataloguing and and organizing of the file would take place in the bowels of the clerk's office. The filing fee, of course, at least in part went towards paying the salaries of the clerk's staff.
Now, all the organizing and cataloging must be done on the lawyer end. Each document must be uploaded individually into the clerk's database and the document must be identified into preset categories and then further described with customizing text. Often this must be done by the actual attorney, not a staff person, because the attorney will have the sophistication to know exactly how to characterize each document, and it's the attorney's account anyways. Furthermore, if something is time sensitive, like a motion response nearing its deadline, the attorney will not want to delegate the task in case something goes awry when the less sophisticated person is handling the uploading. Very different than just sending a staff person down to the clerk's office to have something stamped in.
Instead of a specialized person hired by the clerk's office to take care of organizing and cataloging files all day long, the task has been sloughed off to the attorney, the most highly paid person in the legal industry. The cost is passed on to the litigants. You think that filing fees went down as a result of this cost externalization? No, you know better than that.