VIEW: 17-13: Deliberate Citizen Inconvenience

This is third and last catch-up. Hope there is an end to the blocking.

VIEW FROM HERE
By Bob McDowell (Born Neil Carson) Number 17-13
DELIBERATE CITIZEN INCONVENIENCE Week of 2017/03/27
It never ceases to amaze, and irritate, me the way our government employees at all
levels seem to delight in making things as inconvenient as possible for we the citizens. Many
cases in point are the seemingly idiotic, or deliberate decision, of how to route traffic
around work areas, or in deliberately delaying projects much needed for safety and/or
convenience. Further, there seems to be deliberate delay in such construction as if to impress
on users just how much power the established bureaucracy holds over us.
Whenever there is a construction/repair project in a turnpike or non-toll divided
multi-lane road, the traffic to be diverted to the other side is first moved to the right lane
for some distance, then moved across the divider onto the other side. This is extra effort,
and can be more unsafe, in my observation. Why cannot the traffic to be moved be funneled onto
the LEFT lane before making the crossing to the other side or is this simply a way to obtain
more
money by the contractor? Why has the OTA gone to using asphalt for resurfacing/rebuilding
roads instead of using concrete, which will not move in summer heat to create ruts or ripples?
Over ten years ago the City of Tulsa had two major street improvements undertaken.
One was to widen South Yale Avenue from 71st to 81st Streets from two lanes to six lanes
divided, plus left turn lanes at cross streets and right turn lanes at the ends. The other
was
major widening and bridge overpasses of 71st Street West at US-75 also Tulsa Hills Shopping
Center which also involved ODOT (Oklahoma Department of Transportation).
It seemed that because of a deep cut in the middle of the Yale project, a necessary
lowering of the level of a buried telephone cellar on the East side was not done deep enough.
Instead of moving all street construction to the West side so as to obtain completion of those
three lanes, for the convenience and safety of the users, the contractor left equipment there
and moved personnel to the other project to obtain an earlier completion, and thus a bonus for
that. Then they applied for a 'change order' for more money on the Yale project 'because of
the delay necessitated by AT&T'. In that case, our then Counselor Bill Christiansen requested
me to appear as an expert witness against the change order, along with other nearby residents,
and we did prevail. The then Public Works Director appeared to testify in favor of the change
order.
At that time it was also in the master plan to extend the Yale construction South to
91st Street over a rather large hill, Signal Hill. The funds for that were diverted to the
West 71st Street project. That section of street is quite dangerous because of the steep, and
curvy, layout of the existing two lane pavement.
The intersection of Yale and 91st Street has been widened and the six lane street
extended South to the intersection with the Creek Turnpike at about 96th Street alignment.
However, the widening North only went about two blocks, instead of to the final side street
before going up the hill. This has resulted in many crashes, a few serious injuries and
perhaps one fatality, because traffic coming down the hill is often backed up because of a
vehicle turning left at the first side street into a subdivision. The widening should have
been continued North to past that street.
There are now reports coming out that the project is back in the mill. I have
proposed, in a letter to the editor, that the construction be a twin tunnel through the hill,
so as to avoid the safety issues and reduce the traffic over the hill for the convenience of
the residents up there. The editor of the daily paper declined to run it because 'there were
too many words'. But to shorten it to his limit would destroy the message, so has been
declined. He probably wouldn't run it anyway.
End
Composed March 10, 2017
Robert W. McDowell, Jr. © 2017 841 Lynwood Lane
918-451-1051 oken Arrow OK 74011-8608
Email: abdmcfpi@localnet.com