My last post was ranting about a meandering range of topics. But I just hailed a part of it (not the part where I say I have other thoughts to convey – that always gets lost) where I talk about quality of service. So here’s my rant quality products.
I live in Rochester NY. We have an expressway here called 490. But 490 is really two expressways. There’s the Eastside which delivers you to the wealthy area, population growth (and sprawl – Penfield and Webster are growing (growth is good, don’t get me wrong)), and posh shopping districts (Pittsford, Eastview Mall). And then there’s the Westside that delivers you to the west side. Greece is huge, Chili is growing (mcMansion sprawl too), Churchville and LeRoy. A jaded east-sider I work with says there’s nothing good in the west side. I, a born west sider, don’t really like going to the east side. So there’s a visible split and I think it’s even felt in the people that don’t get defensive or care much about east or west.
The NYSDOT splits it up even more though. I don’t know what they call all the parts but there’s the part from I90 (LeRoy) all the way to the 390 Interchange. Then there’s the Western Gateway from the canal to the river, then there’s the Freddy-Sue Bridge, and then there’s the Eastern side as I’ve mentioned before. Wikipeida says that the eastern part is known as the Eastern Expressway or the Erie Canal Expressway because it runs where the canal and subway used to go through to 590. And then there’s the eastern ‘burbs part from 590 all the way to I90. So 5 sections.
A little more broken history will be this. In the 1988-1991 they redid the “Can of Worms” This is where 490 and 590 come together, rt 96 passes by and University Ave on the East Side of the city. I was a little one at that time, but it’s a lot better now. They redid the 590 – I90 Eastern part back in the mid 90s(?) I’d go so far as to say they did that in the late 90’s. And in ‘06 they redid from rt 531 to the 390 interchange on the West side. This leaves from 531 to I90 and from 390 to the bridge (aka the Western Gateway) <- my focus
So there’s a brief history for ya. I might have missed some stuff, and screwed up on the accuracy of some of the dates, but that’s not the point. It’s the over all picture.
And that picture is this. The Western Gateway. This is the section of the expressway they haven’t touched since 1974 besides doing basic maintenance. This speaks to the solid construction job of the concrete expressway, but also says something else. What though, I unfortunately can’t put my finger on it. For at least 10 years, they’ve had blocks supporting the crumbling concrete structures holding up the 490 bridge over Mt. Read Blvd.
I want it to be clear, I’m happy they’re doing this construction, I don’t really care the time between the construction. Bless whatever politician and DOT employee that put this in motion. Bless those people!!
My thing that I have a problem with, is the quality of the road. They’re not done yet, they’re working on the eastbound lanes as we speak, but westbound is done (from my understanding) One would think, that when driving on the westbound lanes things would be smooth and even, they just finished doing the lanes for goodness sake. But that’s not the case. The transitions are pretty noticeable when driving onto and off of a bridge. And the transition onto 390! They had to do one of those small ramp patches because the canal bridge is higher than the pavement they poured last summer! I even asked a civil engineer I know if they’d top coat it once all the construction was completely done (3 years) and he said no, they’ve completed the westbound lanes. MAYBE I’m wrong! I sure would like to be.
But if we’ve just spent 3 years (plus the years of planning before hand) and Lord knows how much money on this, you’d think the quality of the road would be at least high if not superior. If you have bumpy transitions between the road and the bridges, that just means in our ever chilly winters that the plows are going to destroy that in a year or two! It would seem that it just welcomes road construction to become a consistent thing on the western gateway. Where is our standard of quality?? I could understand that if you’re paving that large of an area that there will be some gradual dips and high points in the road, they took it all the way down and relayed the gravel base. But even if you’re paving such a large area, you still will realize the small details of a bridge seam and the pavement level not matching! I’m just shocked. It’s a no brainer! And the bridge/drainage/road transitions right after the inner loop off ramp (by frontier field on the west bound lanes) is all bumpy too. Now, I’m not being a princess and a pea here and I’m not trying to exaggerate that it’s like driving through potholes either. I also want to say that I do know we’re driving on the area that is made to be a shoulder because of the lane shifts. But when the lanes were all worked out and we drove it in the winter, it was still bumpy!
I just want to ask if anyone’s checking the quality of work. It’s a product we, the taxpayers, are paying for so there needs to be a level of quality for the job being done.
If I had to grade the Western Gateway, the idea would get a 100%. The work, that would get about 75%. I can say they’re doing a good job. But that means a good job next to mediocre not a good job hedging on great. The eastern thorough fair – that was a great job when they completed that. The western gateway is decent.
I feel bad being a 20-something and sounding so negative. But I think America is lacking a standard of quality and unfortunately it’s not going to improve with the next generation. We’re by no means doomed though. They are some fantastic kids, but they’re growing up in a throw-away society that focuses on instantaneous-ness. I’ve said my piece.
