Anonymous
March 20, 2023, 1:41 am
6.0k Views
11 Comments
By an edhat reader
Does anyone know the status of the Highway 101 at Mussel Shoals to Faria Beach construction?
It was supposed to be finished in January 2023. We drive that stretch frequently and never see anyone working? FYI when they do finish the southbound side they are doing the northbound side next.
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Rain days, no penalty. When they finish one they will do the other.
Understandable tagdes but they could open up some lanes when not working. The road leading up to the construction zone looks fine, no need to funnel it to one lane. Been like that for over a year.
Unfortunately that’s probably not part of the approved traffic plan. They can’t deviate from that without approval.
Yah ok. Move 500 k rail for you
Every time I drive that way during weekday daylight hours, I count the number of workers I see assigned to doing something on that stretch. For months, I’ve never seen more than 1-2 Granite trucks with maybe 2-5 workers total by the roadway. At this rate, this part of the project won’t be completed for years. If CalTrans is monitoring these posts, please update the estimate for completion for this segment.
I tried contacting the district 7 Caltrans, it’s their area for this project with no response. I’ve also tried contacting granite with no response. Ventura county star news told me they are looking into it. Does seem like they are in no rush for such a big headache (traffic jams/accidents)for so many commuters.
@ 5:51 I never said move the k rails. I said before the construction zone split leading up to cliff house in. It goes from three lanes into two for no apparent reason, the road looks perfectly fine and has been for years. . And sometimes like last week it went into one lane BEFORE the split.
This area is a hazard. I never see more than a couple of people working. It’s hard to get a beat on timing. Yes, please advise completion.
The only reason it is a hazard is because nearly everyone disregards the posted 55 mph limit and drives 70-80 as evidences by multiple live reading radar signs.
Granite (like others) will pull workers OFF a job that they gave low bids on to work on ‘new’ work they get at a higher rate. It works like this:
Company puts in bid to do a job for $10 million (just making it up). They only have 24 months to do the job or they have to pay $1000 per month in ‘fines’. Company starts working with almost full crews to get it going.
Then, company gets a NEW job that they bid $2 million on and only have 6 months to do it. SO, they pull as many workers as needed to complete THAT job even though it’s going to cost them $1000 a month for being late on the first job – because they can make (profit) about $500,000 on the second job. Then when that job is finished, they go back to job #1… UNTIL, you guessed it, job #3 (and #4 and #5) comes along and they do the same thing.
So, they are literally stealing Peter (and friends) to get paid by Paul (for #2).
This is why MOST government contracted work is WAY beyond the contract date… Sometimes DOUBLE or more. BUT, if the government (CalTrans) wants to try and ‘fire’ the first group, either A) Granite sends more workers to start working in earnest OR B) Caltrans has to go through all kinds of crap to ‘fire’ Granite (or whomever) and THEN put the job out to bid AGAIN and have some company try to come in ‘half way’ to complete the work for MORE money (and Granite likely gets paid the full contract anyway).
This is why they SHOULD have STEEP fines that would actually HURT the company if they go beyond, say, 30 months. ie: $1000 fine for the first month late, $3000 for the second, $5000 for the third, $10,000 for the forth, etc… AND offer then a HUGE ‘bonus’ if they get the work done EARLY as well…
Thank you, DJALAN2000, for the fascinating insight as to why these projects seem to always go over budget and extend way past announced finish date. As for the speed limit (55) and exceeding it, I for one adhere now; all it takes is getting just one ticket on any of these many under-construction passages and the time and expense involved makes you a believer in slowing down. It’s hard, though, poking along at 55 while everyone else blasts past at 70 and more.