5 Responses to “Here Are This Week’s Road Construction Problem Spots”

1. Infrastructure Man on September 28th, 2020 12:09 am

   I know these guys better than most. I know them well because I worked on this job as well as other jobs throughout the southeast USA. I also still work in PNS and was preparing for the hurricane. I can tell you that there was no excuse for this. Here’s a reasons why:

   The Tropical Storm warning started on Sunday the 13th. Hurricane preparedness plans dictate that you move your equipment even in Tropical Storm Conditions. They didn’t have 55 barges right up on the bridge. Probably more like 30-35. In fact the 6 months I was on the job I don’t even remember there being 55 barges on the whole job. Check out the math, how many barges do you see in the bay now? 55-22 is 33. Can you count 33 Skanska barges in the bay and at their yard?

   The rest of how many others there actually would elsewhere like their yard…lets just say the citizens in PNS are getting screwed by this company…I hope you guys don’t stand for it. There was a lot that could have been done (like lay booms down if you are not going to move equipment), they literally just didn’t care enough to try. Disappointing and Heartbreaking, but not surprising after my observations after working out there.

2. Gina on September 27th, 2020 11:23 pm

   we were pretty much always in that cone of uncertainty, which means they should have considered it may come here, or at least we could be on that right quadrant

3. phillip on September 27th, 2020 8:23 pm

   Good point Henry. As easy as it is to pile on Skanska when given all the information and approaching the situation reasonably there really wasn’t much that could be done.

4. Henry Coe on September 27th, 2020 6:03 pm

   The timeline for what could have been done by the construction company needs to be considered.
   At the 4pm advisory on Sept 14 is when the Pensacola area was included in the hurricane warning and by that time, because Sally had slowed to a crawl south of Mobile, Al, Pensacola was already getting tropical storm winds or gust and the tides were being affected and those conditions were expected to get worse as Hurricane Sally was supposed to track North toward Mobile,Al give or take track shift east or west. That is what was happening as night was falling on the evening of Sept 14th as the tropical storm force weather was continuing to worsen.
   By that time it was too late because everyone was expecting Sally to track to the North and turn Northeast but no one knew when Sally would pick up speed or exactly what direction Sally would chose. The only thing forecasters did know is that Sally’s pressure was dropping which increases the wind field and the height of storm surge.
   So if you are the construction company what do you do? How many crew do you need to prep 55 barges to move to bayou chico and how do they work in the dark under tropical storm condition that are going to progress as well as gust to hurricane conditions.
   Lets say they had 5 tug boats. Those guys don’t move fast in good weather so how long would it have taken to tie the tugs to a barge, travel to bayou Chico, tie up the barge and get back for another barge, during a hurricane.
   I would imagine there was little to no experience on the crew to handle barges and tug boats during Hurricane/Tropical storm conditions while working in the dark.
   The other question for that scenario is, is the risk to life worth the risk at that point to move barges?

5. Just saying on September 27th, 2020 6:08 am

   There is a hurricane coming. I know let’s not move the barge with a crane on it to a safer place.