The Grand Illusion
For the past three months, men have been working to replace a sewer line running down the middle of the street beside university buildings here in town. We’re talking five blocks, a third of which is bordered by parking lots on one side or the other. The street is cordoned off a block at a time, but most of the time, no one is actually working. Days can go by with no apparent progress.
Because it’s a sewer line, and Cedar City doesn’t have a separate sewage and water entity, this “construction” has to be under municipal control or authority.
Now, at the same time, just off the northwest corner of the campus, the state of Utah is building a roundabout to replace a four-way stop sign on the main road into the university area, as well as one of the few direct routes to the downtown area from the west. Two months have passed since that section of road was closed (containing one of the three major overpasses of the freeway), and only a limited amount of ground has been torn up, and the university has been told that the closure will continue for at least another two months.
When fifteen thousand students return in less than a month, I suspect that there will be more than a little anger and confusion.
These aren’t federal projects; they’re state and local. So the blame here doesn’t lie with the feds.
Over roughly the same time period, we’ve seen entire subdivisions be laid out and the first houses going up on the west and south sides of town.
And, oh yes, in less than three weeks, an older hotel on the edge of the historic downtown was razed, the land cleared, and construction is underway on a half-block square Maverik super gas station. Why, I have no idea, given that there are three other Maverik gas stations within less than a mile, but I’m betting it will be operating before the roundabout or the sewer construction is complete.
To me, at least, all these are another indication of American public priorities.
Good observations. If one travels by car a bit, these are not atypical situations. It is a bit sad considering historically significant infrastructure projects decades ago were completed quite rapidly by today’s standards. For what it’s worth I did see the very rapid completion of a major interstate rebuild through Indianapolis some years ago – that particular project had built in incentives for ahead-of-timeline completion as well as disincentives for late work. The project also did a lot of the work at night.
As you observe….priorities. I do wonder if there are mitigating factors of which we’re not aware (labor, equipment, materials??)
Maybe most of the workers are dodging ICE?
There’s a lot of changes to my old town! Sorry for the inconvenience.
You’d be stunned by the growth of the university and all the new buildings around the campus, as well as by the sprawl in the Fiddlers’ canyon area.
Planning, manpower, supplies, materials quality; all have an effect upon the appearance of “work priorities”. This is not a recent phenomenon but one to do with the lack of our understanding of the need for maintenance of infrastructure (and everything else that is part of our lives). Maintenance of friendships, marriages, businesses, communications all need attention throughout our lives. Prioritizing is dependent upon our level of attention and our willingness to act in a timely and efficient manner to maintain the quality of our lives. We do this most efficiently when we maintain our “exceptionalism”. Perhaps the MAGA experience will result in renewal of who we believe we are and ultimately our ecosystem.
The priority for drivers is for speedy completion.
The priority for legislators and municipal departments is to save money.
The priority for contractors is to have a steady stream of work, if only so they don’t have to keep firing crews and then scramble to hire new ones.
Something’s gotta give. It’s usually the priority of whoever has the least power among all parties.